WASHINGTON _ The European Union and Canada plan to take trade swipes at bourbons and whiskeys in retaliation for President Donald Trump's decision Thursday to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from their countries and Mexico. The move could put a crimp in Kentucky's bourbon boom, officials say.
The industry, which has enjoyed an uptick in bourbon tourism in recent years, had hoped to avoid the tariffs placed when they export U.S. liquor to Europe and Canada. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, warned Trump that imposing tariffs on the metal imports could spark a trade war.
But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the administration's decision "leaves us with no choice" but to take its case to the World Trade Organization and impose "additional duties on a number of imports from the US." That would include bourbon, whiskey and other politically targeted goods like Harley-Davidson motorcycles manufactured in House Speaker Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin.
