Trump announces U.S. will hit back against EU's retaliatory tariffs on U.S., escalating trade war

Donald Trump announced plans on Thursday to set additional tariffs on EU alcohol products in retaliation for the EU's upcoming tariffs on the U.S., starting in April.

Meanwhile, South Korean trade officials are in the U.S. for talks to minimize the impact of the ongoing tariff war.

Our Park Kun-woo has the latest.

The U.S.-led trade war is intensifying as President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that he would not reconsider reciprocal tariffs set to be imposed on April 2nd.

"We've been ripped off for years and we're not going to be ripped off anymore. Aluminum or steel or cars. We're not going to bend."

Trump also uploaded a post on social media, threatening that he would soon impose a 200 percent tariff on alcohol products "coming out of France and other EU-represented countries" saying that would be great for U.S. wine and champagne businesses.

That's in response to plans announced by the European Commission on Wednesday to retaliate with tariffs on U.S. goods worth 28 billion U.S. dollars, including a 50 percent tariff on whiskey from April.

This came after the U.S. started imposing a 25-percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from Wednesday.

EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, during a visit to South Africa, said on Thursday the EU would defend its interests while adding that it is also open to negotiations.

She also said the bloc's trade commissioner plans to speak with his U.S. counterpart on related issues over the phone on Friday.

And, with the trade war intensifying trade officials from South Korea visited Washington to discuss tariff issues.

"If we're taking an exam, there must be some grading criteria. We need to first understand that criteria, and based on that, we should quickly correct any mistakes and need to persuade them on the points where we can."

He added that they plan to request reciprocal measures to minimize the impact of the upcoming U.S. reciprocal tariffs.

Park Kun-woo, Arirang News.