U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200 per cent tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from France and elsewhere in the European Union, the latest escalation in a brewing transatlantic trade war.

The president in a social media post on Thursday said he would move forward with the import duties if Brussels follows through with a tax on American whiskey exports, a measure aimed at retaliating against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs that went into effect on Wednesday.