US President Donald Trump did not care for the EU’s response to his own tariffs (see EUROPE 13598/1). On Thursday, 13 March, he threatened to impose 200% customs duties on champagne, wine, and other European alcohol if the EU did not withdraw the measures it had announced the day before, which are due to come into force on 1 April. Questioned on this subject in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, 13 March, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that the EU was open to negotiations.
“The trade commissioner is in contact with his counterpart in the United States, and they will have a phone call tomorrow on exactly this issue”, she affirmed.
For the time being, the European Commission does not wish to comment further on the US president’s announcements, but it has confirmed that European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič had contacted the US administration immediately after European tariffs were announced on Wednesday, 12 March.
In Geneva on Thursday, 13 March, Canada called for dispute proceedings to be initiated at the World Trade Organization on account of US tariffs on steel and aluminium. The EU is not yet at this stage but is not ruling out this possibility, according to a source.
Representing the EU spirits industry, spiritsEUROPE has reacted strongly to Donald Trump’s latest announcements: “We urge both sides to stop using our sector as a bargaining chip in conflicts that have nothing to do with us”, said Pauline Bastidon, director of trade and economic affairs at spiritsEUROPE. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)