WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said there could be more pain ahead for Kentucky’s farmers and the $9 billion bourbon industry, as President Donald Trump escalates a trade war with America’s top trading partners.

“I’m not a fan of tariffs,” McConnell said. “I hope it works, but if it goes on very long, we'll have more of what we've already experienced in Canada with the, taking bourbon off the shelves. American farmers -- we have 70,000 farmers in Kentucky -- basically make their money off of trade export, so I think a long-term trade war would be a mistake.”

Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Last week, he threatened to slap 200% tariffs on European alcohol, if the European Union doesn’t scrap its plan to impose a retaliatory 50% tariff on American whiskeys like bourbon, starting next month.

“Tariffs are easy,” Trump said earlier this month. “They’re fast, they’re efficient, and they bring fairness.”

McConnell, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky., have all spoken out against tariffs in recent days.

“The two Republican senators and the Democratic governor, that might not agree on a lot, agree that tariffs only hurt our American people,” Beshear told Spectrum News on March 13.    

“Nobody in Kentucky’s coming up to me and saying, ‘Please put tariffs on things,’” Paul said earlier that day.   

“I'm hoping that the president will be satisfied here sometime soon,” McConnell said Tuesday. “By the way, this is not a legislative matter. He has authority to do this. We don't get to do anything other than complain, as I just did.”

Last week, Trump defended his tariffs. The president said he won’t bend and that the U.S. has been “ripped off as a country for many, many years.”