President Donald Trump is threatening to levy a 200-percent tariff on wine and liquor products imported from the European Union after the alliance levied its own tariff on American whiskey products — the latest in a tit for tat tax battle with Trump.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
There is by definition no “champagne business” in the United States, only sparkling wine — which Americans can presumably treat themselves to in order to drown out reality as Trump’s tariff bonanza skyrockets prices and destabilizes the economy.
The stock market has taken a massive hit over the last few weeks as the president pursues a mercantilistic trade war with America’s allies. The volatility is beginning to grate on prominent business leaders and investors. According to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal, the White House has received a steady deluge of calls from lobbyists and chief executives imploring the president to rein in his erratic economic declarations and help reassure corporations that they and their shareholder values are not headed off a fiscal cliff.
According to sources who spoke to the Journal, the president has been warned by close advisers that his tariff regime could hurt markets and GDP growth, but he remains unmoved.
It doesn’t help that Trump and his close economic advisers are openly admitting that working class Americans will feel the pain of price increases and economic regression. While they claim that it will be temporary pain for long term gain, Americans are unconvinced. According to a Wednesday CNN/SSRS poll, less than two months into his term, 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, compared to 44 percent who approve.
Instead of recalibrating his economic strategy and at least publicly performing some level of restraint, the president is using the White House lawn as a car dealership to boost the stock price of his favorite billionaire, and threatening a 200-percent tax on alcohol while quoting John F. Kennedy in an absurd effort to reassure everyone that everything is going to be alright.
“The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying,” Trump wrote on Thursday. “They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of “screwing” the United States of America. Their (WSJ!) thinking is antiquated and weak, and very bad for the USA. But have no fear, we will WIN on everything!!! Egg prices are down, oil is down, interest rates are down, and TARIFF RELATED MONEY IS POURING INTO THE UNITED STATES. ‘The only thing you have to fear, is fear itself!’”
In another Truth Social post, Trump wrote that “the U.S. doesn’t have Free Trade. We have ‘Stupid Trade.’ The Entire World is RIPPING US.”
Yet, it’s hard to think of anything stupider than an increasingly unpopular president forcing consumers to pay 200 percent more for a bottle of wine.
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