American bourbon and motorcycles could be hit with tariffs if Donald Trump starts a trade war with the European Union.

The European Commission has already set up a dedicated “Trump taskforce” and drawn up a list of imported products to target if Mr Trump carries out his threat to impose trade taxes on European imports.

The products, such as Kentucky bourbon and motorcycles, come from states identified as potentially being vulnerable to losing their Republican representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. Brussels hopes the congressmen affected will put Mr Trump under pressure to ditch the tariffs.

Mr Trump, who has derided the EU as a “mini-China”, has threatened all foreign imports with a tariff of 10-20 per cent and Chinese imports with a 60 per cent tax.