--- 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: 2026-02-23T19:30:31.321Z 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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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 2, 2018 11:10 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with leaders of the steel industry at the White House March 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump announced planned tariffs on imported steel and aluminum during the meeting, with details to be released at a later date. U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with leaders of the steel industry at the White House March 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump announced planned tariffs on imported steel and aluminum during the meeting, with details to be released at a later date.Photo by Win McNamee—Getty Images  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. ```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":"2026-02-23T19:30:31.321Z","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"}}]}] ```