President Trump accused the EU of being “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World."

In his first term, Trump also targeted the alcohol industry. A series of tit-for-tat tariffs hit alcohol products in the U.S. and the EU. The Biden administration suspended those tariffs, but now the industry is once again in the crosshairs. The industry has still been recovering from that first tariff spat.

This move by Trump was seen by French Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin as the start of a trade war.