Trump wine tariffs have French fuming

Heavy tariffs that the US has threatened to place on French goods - including Champagne - will cripple France's wine businesses, an industry leader has warned.

Antoine Leccia, President of the Fédération des Exportateurs de Vins et Spiritueux de France, said French president Emmanuel Macron must take “all the necessary initiatives” to stop their enforcement.

The US Government has proposed tariffs of up to 100% on French goods, including sparkling wine, cheese and handbags, valued at US$2.4 billion, in retaliation to a French tax placed on American tech companies.

The digital services tax, dubbed GAFA (which stands for ‘Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon’), would impose a 3% levy on the total annual revenues of the largest global tech companies providing services in France.

Now the Trump administration has hit back with its own retaliatory tariffs, Drinks Business reports.

“We deplore of course this announcement which, after the dispute over Airbus, targets French wines again and always in the context of a dispute between France and the United States that does not concern our sector,” Leccia said. 

Over the past year (figures available at the end of September 2019), France exported 4.1 million cases of sparkling wine, for a turnover of approximately €690 million. Sparkling wines account for nearly 40% in value and 20% in volume of total exports of French wines to the United States.

“We solemnly call on the President of the Republic to take, from today, all the necessary initiatives, at the national, bilateral and international levels, so that our sector does not pay the price of the economic and political choices made by France,” Leccia said.