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The
U.S. government said on Monday it would begin collecting new
duties on certain non-sparkling wines as well as cognacs and
other brandies from France, among other products from France and
Germany, after failing to resolve a 16-year dispute over
aircraft subsidies with the European Union.
French winemakers already saw shipments to the United States
tumble last year after the Trump administration hit them with a
first round of 25% tariff duties in the trade dispute.
That initial move prompted a call from Paris for a compensation
fund from the European Commission, which Finance Minister Bruno
Le Maire said on Tuesday had so far gone unheeded.
"I regret the slowness with which the European Commision is
responding to our request about a compensation fund. This sector
is hard hit and needs European support," Le Maire told a news
conference.
"I want the European Commission to quickly react to our proposal
for a compensation fund," Le Maire said, adding that resolving
U.S. trade tensions would be a priority when he meets the new
Biden administration.
The French wine exporters' federation said at the end of
December that the additional tariffs would cost the sector more
than one billion euros ($1.21 billion).
Le Maire said he wanted winemakers to be able to defer
reimbursement of state guaranteed loans and limits to be raised
on their access to a government handout fund for businesses
struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
"We must find solutions and get out of this conflict which is a
Boeing-Airbus conflict of which wine is a collateral victim,"
Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie told a separate news
conference.
($1 = 0.8232 euros)
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, additional reporting by Sybille de
La Hamaide; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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