Donald Trump’s war on Gouda, Edam cheese

This 2018 photo shows United States President Donald Trump‘s ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra with a Gouda cheese in his hands on the Gouda city cheese market. On the photo, everything seemed hunky dory. However, appearances are deceptive.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

USA threatens with tariffs on Gouda and Edam cheese

The United States threatens with import duties on Gouda and Edam cheese if European subsidies for aircraft manufacturer Airbus are not stopped.

Airbus is a competitor of United States aircraft corporation Boeing, which is now in trouble as its unsafe 737 Max aircraft kill airline passengers. War profiteers Boeing are buddies of the Trump administration.

The products are on a fourteen-page list published by the US government’s trading office.

In addition to cheeses, the document also contains goods such as olive oil, wine and handbags. According to the US Americans, the provisional list accounts for almost 10 billion euros in import duties. …

In a response to Reuters news agency, Airbus stated that the proposed US import duties have “no legal basis”. The EU has not yet responded officially.

Levies on steel, aluminum

The possible levies are in addition to the import tariffs that the US has already imposed on industrial products such as steel and aluminum from Europe.

These are the result of the trade dispute between the EU and the US that arose last year. President Trump is annoyed by the, in his eyes, high import duties on American cars.