US ramps up French wine tariff dispute
Threats from US officials to impose wine import tariffs of ‘up to 100%’ on Champagne and sparkling wines from France have sparked frustration among French export bodies and producers as trade conflicts continue to target their industry.
The tax increases were proposed as a retaliation to France’s digital services tax, which is said by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to ‘discriminate against’ US tech companies.
Totalling $2.4bn, the tariffs would target premium French products including handbags, Roquefort cheese and ‘sparkling wine made from grapes’, according to a provisional list released by the US government.
Under these conditions, Champagne producers would face higher barriers to the fast-growing US market than the producers of French still wine who were hit by a 25% import tariff enacted in October (see ‘Month in wine’, December issue).
Comité Champagne data showed that
23.7 million bottles were shipped to the US in 2018, making it the largest export market for Champagne by value, worth about €577m.
‘We of course deplore this announcement,’ said Antoine Leccia, president of FEVS, the French wine and spirits export body. ‘After the dispute over Airbus, [these tariffs] target French wines again and always in the context of a dispute between France and the US that does not concern our sector,’ he said.
Separately, US officials also raised the prospect of upping the 25% import tariffs on a wide range of EU products, including French still wine with 14% alcohol or below, as part of the long-running dispute over aerospace subsidies. Wineries from France’s premium regions have expressed concern that their US orders may fall if the trade sanctions continue.
Louis-Fabrice Latour, president of BIVB, the Burgundy wine board, said that for Burgundy the ‘indispensable’ nature of the US market would be hard to replace.
The US accounts for 60% of all PouillyFuissé sales, for example. ‘Other markets cannot pick up that slack’, he said.