Forget China, There's Still a Big Trade Battle in Europe

Detente on trade relations between the U.S. and China continues to progress, with President Trump removing China from the list of currency manipulators. While China is obviously a strategic trading partner, and settling points of contention is crucial, the U.S. is apparently still fully engaged in a hot trade war with Europe.

After the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on French, German, British, and Spanish wines last October, France is considering imposing a tax on U.S. tech giants like Facebook and Alphabet's Google, Trump's trade representative has proposed hiking the duties on all European wines and whiskies to 100% and then extending it to other imported goods like olives, cheese, handbags, and cookware.

The massive increase would cause prices to soar and would hit not only importers, but restaurants and retailers also. And, of course, it will be the consumer who actually pays the cost.

Source Fool.com