The EU could tax whiskey 'n rye, bluejeans and boss hogs, as trade rhetoric ramps up.
ADVERTISEMENTSparks are flying between the EU and US after President Donald Trump's steel tariff announcement.
The rumblings of a trade war continue as the EU warns Trump that they will seek 're-balancing measures' should the new steel and aluminum tariffs include EU countries.
"We are friends we are allies, we work together, we cannot possibly be a threat to national security in the US, so we are counting on being excluded. It is not crystal clear what the president said yesterday, so we will have to seek further clarity on that," said the EU's Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.
Malmström will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Brussels on Saturday to discuss an exemption.
In Brussels, EU politicians considered the consequences...
"No we haven't entered a trade war but we are not that far off the brink of a trade war. So we are stumbling into a war, and this of course would be a great danger to the international economy," said German MP Norbert Röttgen.
"We want to have dialogue, right up to the very end,but if talking gets us nowhere then Europe cannot be naive, it will have to retaliate, in an adequate and proportional way, and in a way that says you cannot hit us like this," said France's Secretary of State at the Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
If no exemption is won, the EU announced on Wednesday it plans to retaliate with taxes on bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries, orange juice and steel and aluminum products.