200% tariffs on Europe's wine, spirits threatened

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap a 200 percent tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, opening a new front in a global trade war that has roiled financial markets and raised recession fears.

Trump's threat came in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on US whiskey and other products next month — which itself is a reaction to Trump's 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that took effect on Wednesday.

Alcohol is shaping up to be a key friction point in the brewing trade war. Some Canadian retailers have pulled US bourbon from their shelves as relations between the two countries have frayed and Trump has threatened to annex that country.