Vice President JD Vance built upon his boss’s pushback to countries in the European Union that have been engaged in back-and-forth tariff threats with President Donald Trump.
Trump has doled out tariffs to Canada, Mexico, and China during his second administration and has threatened to enact levies against the EU as well, largely in retaliation for EU actions to place tariffs on the United States.
Vance, during a Fox News interview released on Thursday, said the U.S. will “fight back economically” if “Europeans do something to us.”
“The president made this point, actually, in the visit with the prime minister of Ireland yesterday, that the European Union has in some ways been the worst on American workers and American industries of anybody,” he said on The Ingraham Angle.
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“They’re imposing ridiculous tariffs. They say that they’re our most important ally, and of course, we care about European security, but they don’t treat us like an ally when it comes to economics. They actually hammer American consumers and American workers, [and] in the process, the president,” Vance added. “You know, the thing that underlies all this, Laura, is, of course, a defense of the American worker but a recognition that we’re not going to take unfairness anymore. If Europeans do something to us, we’re actually going to fight back economically.”
On Wednesday, the U.S.’s plan to increase steel and aluminum tariffs from 10% to 25% went into effect, and the EU responded by saying it would allow 50% tariffs on American whiskey, which were suspended, to take effect on April 1.
Trump then responded again, saying he would enact a “200 percent tariff” on European wine, champagne, and other alcohol if the tariffs weren’t removed “immediately.”
“This will be great for the wine and champagne businesses in the U.S.,” he added on Truth Social.
Trump called the EU “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the world.” He’s also sparred with Canada and Mexico over tariffs. He placed a 25% tariff on imports from both countries before pausing, reinstating, and mostly pausing them again in return for immigration concessions.
When asked by Laura Ingraham about backlash on the tariffs, Vance blamed former President Joe Biden for leaving the economy “a disaster.”
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“There is, as the president has said, a recognition that we have to accept, which is that, look, Joe Biden left this economy in a disaster,” Vance said hours after the market plummeted Thursday following more tariff news.
“The president has come in and said, look, we have to accomplish a lot of things simultaneously. We have to bring down inflation, which I think we’re making some good progress on. We have to actually ensure critical government services like Social Security and the military function for the American people. And we also have to force businesses to invest more, not overseas, not in Chinese workers, but in American workers. And I think we’ll deal with all of those things,” he said.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he concluded.
