--- title: European Union Reacts to Trump's Proposed Tariffs description: The head of the European Union Commission threatened to take retaliatory action against President Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-02T23:10:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:01:15.059Z article:section: Politics og:title: EU Threatens Taxes on Harley's, Bourbon and Levi's in Response to Trump's Tariffs og:description: 'The EU will react firmly and commensurately to defend our interests.' og:url: https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83748fe91ae26e9f/69892962096a94cfe96a1ae3/donald-trump-snl-baldwin-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump Meets With Steel And Aluminum Manufacturing Industry Leaders Announcing New Tariffs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: EU Threatens Taxes on Harley's, Bourbon and Levi's in Response to Trump's Tariffs twitter:description: 'The EU will react firmly and commensurately to defend our interests.' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83748fe91ae26e9f/69892962096a94cfe96a1ae3/donald-trump-snl-baldwin-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's Tariff Talk Spurs EU to Threaten Taxes on Harley's, Bourbon and Levi's > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b52b33f6-0b68-492d-a55c-98f007a99c69&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump's Tariffs Draw Threats of Retaliation from EU, Mexico and Canada [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump's Tariffs Draw Threats of Retaliation from EU, Mexico and Canada](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZjJqDHK5.m3u8) (2:19)  _Published 2018-06-01. The Trump administration delivered a gut punch to America’s closest allies Thursday, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum from Europe, Mexico and Canada in a move that drew immediate vows of retaliation_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 2, 2018 11:10 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 2, 2018 11:10 PM UTC A day after President Donald Trump publicly weighed tariffs on aluminum and steel, the head of the European Union Commission threatened to take retaliatory action by charging duties on American-made goods. Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European Union Commission, said that if the tariffs were implemented, the EU would impost its own tariffs on[ American products](http://time.com/5180901/donald-trump-steel-aluminum-tariff/) like Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Kentucky bourbon — items that notably come from the home states of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Juncker told the German media these plans, [according to a report in the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/business/europe-steel-tariffs-trump.html), but he also said the proposal had not been finalized. After Trump made his initial announcement on March 1, Juncker called the proposed tariffs “blatant intervention to protect US domestic industry,” since the U.S. plan had no national security justification backing it. “We will not sit idly while our industry is hit with unfair measures that put thousands of European jobs at risk,” Juncker said in the [statement](http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release%5FSTATEMENT-18-1484%5Fen.htm). “The EU will react firmly and commensurately to defend our interests.” Trump defended his decision Friday morning on Twitter. “We must protect our country and our workers. Our steel industry is in bad shape. IF YOU DON’T HAVE STEEL, YOU DON’T HAVE A COUNTRY!” he wrote. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/969558431802806272) Levi’s Harley Davidson, and the Kentucky Distiller’s Association did not immediately respond to request for comment. ## Transcript It's very disappointing that the United States has chosen to apply steel and aluminium tariffs to countries across the European Union, allies of the United States, and all in the name of national security. And in the case of the United Kingdom, where we send steel to the United States that is vital for their businesses and the defense industry, It is patently absurd. Let me be clear, these tariffs are totally unacceptable. for a hundred and fifty years Canada has been the United States' most steadfast alley. In response to these measures Canada intends to impose tariffs against imports of steel, aluminum, and other products from the United States, representing the total value of 2017 Canadian exports affected by the US measures. That is 16. 6 Billion dollars. This is the strongest trade action Canada has taken in the post war era. It is not common for the US to use 2432 provision. And in a way to claim a national security action When you are affecting allies, traditional allies of the US, is not understandable. And so we announce today that we'll take action at the [ UNKNOWN ] an amount to compensate exactly the damage done to Mexican exports on steel and aluminum. This is very unfortunate. It is unfortunate because it will cause a lot of damage to our steel and aluminum industry. It's unfortunate because the motivation behind this, the section 232 that the Americans are using, internal security. Is not relevant. It is pure protectionism. Europeans feel an aluminum export to the United States cannot be seen as a threat to their internal security. Clearly, the European Union has to defend its interests. And this is why, as announced by the President yesterday, The European Union will today proceed with The WTO disparate settlements case and impose additional duties on a number of imports from The United States. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/"},"headline":"Trump's Tariff Talk Spurs EU to Threaten Taxes on Harley's, Bourbon and Levi's","datePublished":"2018-03-02T23:10:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T09:01:15.059Z","description":"'The EU will react firmly and commensurately to defend our interests.'","url":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83748fe91ae26e9f/69892962096a94cfe96a1ae3/donald-trump-snl-baldwin-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83748fe91ae26e9f/69892962096a94cfe96a1ae3/donald-trump-snl-baldwin-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Meets With Steel And Aluminum Manufacturing Industry Leaders Announcing New Tariffs","caption":"President Trump Meets With Steel And Aluminum Manufacturing Industry Leaders Announcing New Tariffs","creditText":"Photo by Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/","name":"Trump's Tariff Talk Spurs EU to Threaten Taxes on Harley's, Bourbon and Levi's"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump's Tariffs Draw Threats of Retaliation from EU, Mexico and Canada","description":"The Trump administration delivered a gut punch to America’s closest allies Thursday, imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum from Europe, Mexico and Canada in a move that drew immediate vows of retaliation","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ZjJqDHK5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-01T14:56:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZjJqDHK5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/","duration":"PT2M19S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5183838/european-union-tariffs-donald-trump-bourbon-levis-harley-davidson/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```