Trump's spirited tariffs to cheer up US liquor industry as world lurches into trade war

The TOI Correspondent from Washington: America's teetotaling President carried his spirited battle to promote his country's alcoholic drinks abroad with an early morning threat to impose a 200 percent tariff on wines and champagne from the European Union if it did not rescind a 50 percent tax on US products, as he stumbled ahead with a global tariff war while insisting the US is being ripped off by the world.
Days after his aides beat up New Delhi for its tax on American bourbon, Donald Trump unloaded on the EU, calling it "one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World" for its "nasty" 50 percent tariff on US whisky amid a brewing global trade war.
"If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the US will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all wines, champagnes & alcoholic products coming out of France and other EU represented countries. This will be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the US,” Trump warned, threatening the nearly $10 billion trade in alcoholic beverages across the Atlantic.
EU countries, led by France, Germany, and Italy, export nearly $ 7 billion worth of alcoholic drinks to the US, mainly wine, champagne and beer, compared to similar US exports (mainly whisky, wine, and beer) of under $ 2 billion. The two-way commerce, which dwarfs the US-India liquor trade of around $ 200 million by a factor of 50x, has kept consumers on both sides of the Atlantic in good cheer with access to a wide variety of drinks.
But Trump, whose commerce secretary Howard Lutnick disclosed was "totally annoyed" with the EU tariff ( imposed in response to US tariff in steel and aluminum), reacted with his now trademark fury while batting for the US alcohol industry in which he has a minuscule slice. Although a teetotaler (because of his brother Fred's death from alcoholism, he has said), there are licensed liquor brands in his name, including Trump Wines and Trump Vodka.
The US President's announcement was notable for two things: One, it was not reciprocal -- pitching a 200 percent tax to the EU's 50 percent. Two, his reference to "Champagne businesses in the US" -- a violation of branding protocol that only allows to only produce from France's Champagne region to be termed "Champagne"; the US product is called sparkling wine. Whether Trump did this out of ignorance or spite, he invited trolling from the French, with one critic telling him "Mr President, wine+soda is not Champagne."
A short while later, Trump, who has blamed previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, for selling out the US with unequal and unfair trade deals, wrote on his Truth Social platform: “The US doesn’t have Free Trade. We have “Stupid Trade.” The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!”
While former US Presidents have employed tariffs subtly as a tool to achieve goals beyond trade parity, Trump is using it as a blunt instrument against even allies, as Ireland's President Michael Martin found out during an Oval office meeting on Wednesday.
"Ireland was very smart. They took our pharmaceutical companies away from presidents that didn’t know what they were doing, and it’s too bad that happened," Trump bristled with Martin seated next to him, claiming Ireland has the "entire US pharmaceutical industry in its grip," ostensibly because its low-tax policy lured companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson.