The stakes are quickly escalating in what's seen as a new global trade war with President Donald Trump threatening a 200% tariff on alcoholic beverages in response to the EU's latest retaliatory tariffs.
And Kentucky's bourbon industry is finding itself right in the crosshairs.
"These tariffs are disastrous for the bourbon industry and how we know what happens. During Trump's first presidency when there was a 25% retaliatory tariff put on by the EU, it cut our exports in half. It it was hundreds of millions of dollars to the bourbon industry," Congressman Morgan McGarvey said on CNN. "Now they're talking about 50% tariffs on American whiskey."
Ditto Gov. Andy Beshear, who wrote Wednesday that risking a possible recession over tariffs is "sad, crazy, and totally avoidable."
"I worry about all of our families who are seeing prices on everything increase, because of a trade war that nobody asked for, especially against our neighbors and our allies," he later said in a video post.
But it's not just Democrats sounding the alarms as the markets react negatively to the on-again-off-again tariff volleys.
Sen. Rand Paul said pulling back from global trade could erase gains made in reducing poverty around the world. As for back home, Paul told The Hill "I haven't had a single business person or individual in my state come up to me and say the tariffs are a good idea."
Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has tried to calm economic fears saying the administration is focused on a broader transformation of the US economy, adding that he believes the EU has more to lose in a trade war.