Nigel Farage branded Donald Trump “even more Eurosceptic than me” after the US president threatened 200% tariffs on EU alcohol. Mr Trump warned he could slap the huge levies on European wine, champagne and spirits as a trade war looms.

Speaking on his GB News show, a laughing Mr Farage said: “He’s even more Eurosceptic than me.” The Reform UK leader, who is a close ally of the US president, went on: “I still think, and he really does think the EU is unfair, that was said with real passion. He thinks China has stolen some of their ideas and undercut them. But ultimately, it’s a negotiation, isn’t it?”

The US president earlier this week imposed global 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium.

The move prompted the EU to respond with taxes on goods including American bourbon.

That led Mr Trump to threaten a massive 200% tax on imports of champagne and other wines from the bloc.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the Republican said Brussels was “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the world” and had put a “nasty” 50% tariff on US whiskey.

Mr Trump said: “If this tariff is not removed immediately, the US will shortly place a 200% tariff on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products coming out of France and other EU-represented countries.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision not to hit back at Mr Trump’s tariffs as the US and EU appeared to be on the brink of a full-blown trade war.