CHICAGO, January 19, 2026 — Global politics have plunged the food-away-from-home (FAFH) business back into uncertainty about the effects of President Trump’s aggressive tariffs.
The President has threatened to jack up the duties on imports from eight European nations if they continue to oppose the absorption of Greenland into the U.S. The eight, all longtime allies of the U.S., supply the U.S. foodservice and retail industries with products ranging from olive oil to scotch, specialty cheeses, German beers, and Champagne.
At the instigation of the National Restaurant Association and other trade groups, Trump agreed in November to exempt many imported foods and beverages that are not produced in the U.S. from tariffs running far into double digits. The President acknowledged at the time that many U.S. businesses would be hurt if those products disappeared from the marketplace.
It is not clear if Trump will honor those exemptions if he makes good on a threat issued over the weekend to tack an additional 10% duty on imports from eight European nations that oppose his efforts to have the U.S. buy or seize Greenland from Denmark.
In addition to Denmark, the nations include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, The Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. If Trump made good on his threat, the U.K. importers would face a 20% tariff on the goods they ship into the U.S., and producers in the other seven nations would be hit with a surcharge of 25%.
Even if the carve-outs announced in November are maintained on food and beverage imports from European nations, FAFH businesses might still feel new pain from Trump’s punitive upcharges. The European Union, which includes seven of the eight nations in Trump’s crosshairs, has threatened to counter the tariff increases with what’s known as “the big bazooka,” an extreme defense that could include halting the export to the U.S. of some products. In addition, some American companies doing business in Europe could find those activities constrained in that market. Included in the limits could be restraints on investments.
Trump has yet to move beyond verbally threatening the European nations that oppose the United States’ annexation of Greenland. He has not issued any executive orders mandating the hike in tariffs, nor even a memo outlining his thinking.
Similarly, he has yet to take any steps toward imposing the other tariff increases he recently threatened to impose.
While demonstrations against Iran’s current regime were raging last week, Trump aired the possibility of levying steep new surcharges on goods imported into the U.S. from nations that have a business relationship with Iran. If a country exports goods to the fundamentalist Islamic nation, it could be subject to stiff duties on what it sells to U.S. companies, the President warned.
The five nations with the highest volume of exports to Iran are China, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Brazil, and Germany.
The tariff-related threats come as the nation is awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on the legality of Trump’s tariffs. Two lower courts have held that the President lacked the Constitutional authority to impose and maintain the import duties.
The White House has indicated that it has identified alternative ways of imposing the duties should the Supreme Court rule the current tariffs were imposed illegally.
The Court has yet to reveal when that decision may be handed down.