The threat to target more European goods comes just days after the United States and China agreed to resume talks on a trade deal. President Donald Trump said he would hold off imposing new tariffs on China.
The World Trade Organization has handed down favorable rulings to both sides since then, underscoring the complexity of the dispute.
The tariffs proposed by the Trump administration are subject to public consultation in the United States and arbitration at the WTO, which is expected to deliver its findings this summer.
A spokesman for the European Commission said it had noted the latest move by the United States. The spokesman added that Europe could retaliate in the Boeing case.
"The European Union remains open for discussions with the United States, provided these are without preconditions and aim at a fair outcome," the spokesman said.
US spirits industry upset
The taxes proposed by the Trump administration were criticized by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which objected to the inclusion of Scotch and Irish whiskey.
"These tariffs, if imposed, will have numerous unintended negative consequences on US jobs, US consumers and on US companies that export to the European Union," it said in a statement.
"US companies — from farmers, to suppliers to retailers — are already being negatively impacted by the imposition of retaliatory tariffs by key trading partners on certain US distilled spirits resulting from other trade disputes, and these additional tariffs will only inflict further harm," it added.
The threat is the latest in a series of trade clashes between the United States and the European Union. The Trump administration has already imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminum, to which EU authorities responded with tariffs on US goods worth more than $3 billion.
The trading relationship between the two sides is worth more than $1 trillion annually, but Europe exports significantly more goods to the United States than the other way around.









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