The European Union will begin charging a 25 per cent tariff on $3.2 billion of US products from Friday in response to President Trump's decision not to exempt Europe from sweeping tariffs on aluminum and steel. However, the EU's retaliatory tariffs, announced earlier this month, target politically-sensitive products here in the US, like bourbon from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's home state of Kentucky and dairy products from House Speaker Paul Ryan's Wisconsin.

Around 200 categories of US products will be covered in the EU counter measures which include various types of corn, rice, orange juice, cigarettes, cigars, t-shirts, cosmetics, boats and steel. The EU is reserving the right to target more US products with further duties no later than March 23, 2021. Second-stage retaliation would involve levies ranging from 10 percent to 50 per cent on an extra €3.6 billion of American goods imported into the European Union.