The European Union is to slap tariffs on stereotypical American products such as Harley Davidson motorbikes, Levi’s blue jeans and Bourbon whiskey in retaliation for Donald Trump’s new import tariffs, in a major escalation of the brewing trade war between the two powers.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told German television that the EU would not “put our head in the sand” after Mr Trump announced the introduction of a 25 per cent “America First” import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.
“We will put tariffs on Harley-Davidson, on bourbon and on blue jeans – Levis,” Mr Juncker said on Friday speaking on German television.
“We are here and they will get to know us. We would like a reasonable relationship to the United States, but we cannot simply put our head in the sand.”
The European Commission said last night that it would formally announce details of policies targeting the US “in the next few days” to “rebalance” the global trade playing field after Mr Trump’s move.
It also said it would raise a dispute over Mr Trump’s new policy at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.
Mr Trump tweeted today that trade wars were “good, and easy to win”, before turning his attention to attacking actor Alec Baldwin for this impersonation of the US president on a popular US late-night TV show.

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