US wine shops and importers say Trump's threatened 200% tariff on
European wines would kill demand
[March 14, 2025] By
DEE-ANN DURBIN and MAE ANDERSON
The United States is suddenly looking less bubbly for European wines.
President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened a 200% tariff on European
wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with a
planned 50% tariff on American whiskey. Wine sellers and importers said
a tariff of that size would essentially shut down the European wine
business in the U.S.
“I don’t think customers are prepared to pay two to three times more for
their favorite wine or Champagne,” Ronnie Sanders, the CEO of Vine
Street Imports in Mt. Laurel Township, New Jersey, said.
Jeff Zacharia, president of fine wine retailer Zachys in Port Chester,
New York, said 80% of the wine he sells is from Europe. Importers depend
on European wines for a big part of their distribution system, he said,
and there’s not enough U.S. wine to make up for that.
“This is just going to have a major negative impact on the whole U.S.
wine industry in all aspects of it, including U.S. wineries,” he said.
Zacharia said there are so many unknowns right now he's stopped buying
European wine until the picture becomes clearer.
“It’s very hard to make preparations when as a business you don’t have a
clear path forward,” he said. “Our preparations would be very different
if it’s 200% compared to 100% compared to 10%.”
Wine and spirits from the 27-nation European Union made up 17% of the
total consumed in the U.S. in 2023, according to IWSR, a global data and
insight provider specializing in alcohol. Of that 17%, Italy accounted
for 7% -- mostly from wine – and French wine, cognac and vodka accounted
for 5%.
Overall, the U.S. imports much more alcohol than it exports. The $26.6
billion worth of foreign-produced alcoholic beverages that entered the
country in 2022 accounted for 14% percent of all U.S. agricultural
imports, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S.
exported $3.9 billion worth of beer, wine and distilled spirits that
year.
Marten Lodewijks, president of IWSR U.S., said a 200% tariff would not
be unprecedented but import duties of that size tend to be more
targeted.
In 2020, China imposed tariffs as high as 218% on Australian wine, which
caused exports to plunge by 90%, Lodewijks said. China lifted the
tariffs last year, but by then Australia's wine industry had taken a big
hit. Australia's wine trade to China was worth 1.1 billion Australian
dollars ($710 million) annually before the tariffs were put in place.
Europe's tax on American whiskey, which was unveiled in response to the
Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs, is expected to go
into effect on April 1. Trump responded Thursday in a social media post.
"If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place
a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT
OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote. “This will
be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
[to top of second column] |
Shown is a table on a French bottle of Champaign at a Pennsylvania
Fine Wine & Good Spirits in Flourtown, Pa., Thursday, March 13,
2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
 Trump was incorrect about the
Champagne business. Champagne is a legally protected wine that can
only come from France’s Champagne region. But U.S. winemakers —
including Trump Winery, a Virginia winery owned by the president's
son Eric Trump — do make sparkling wine.
Reaction from across the Atlantic was swift Thursday.
“We must stop a dangerous escalation that is leading to a global
trade war where the first victims will be U.S. citizens who will pay
more for products, and with them, farmers,’’ Ettore Prandini,
president of Italy's Coldiretti agriculture lobby, said.
Italian wine exports to the U.S. – led by prosecco -- have tripled
in value over the last 20 years and reached 1.9 billion euros ($2.1
billion) last year. In France, the U.S. market for wines and spirits
is worth 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) annually.
Gabriel Picard, who heads the French Federation of Exporters of
Wines and Spirits, said 200% tariffs would be “a hammer blow” for
France’s alcohol export industry, impacting hundreds of thousands of
people.
“Not a single bottle will continue to be expedited if 200% tariffs
are applied to our products. All exports to the United States will
come to a total, total, halt,” Picard said in an interview with The
Associated Press.
French transporter Grain de Sail, which uses sail power to ship
wines and other goods across the Atlantic, said Thursday that some
winemakers had already cancelled planned shipments of wine to the
U.S. because they were anticipating tariffs even before Trump's
announcement.
“It has more or less frozen exports. There's no point even hoping to
send wine to the United States under these conditions,” said Jacques
Barreau, the firm’s co-founder.
Some U.S. wine stores saw an opportunity Thursday. In Washington,
the wine bar Cork announced a tariff sale, encouraging regulars to
come stock up on their favorite wines while they’re still
affordable.
Others wondered aloud whether Trump would really go through with a
200% tariff.
“It changes by the hour now, right?" Mark O’Callaghan, the founder
of Exit 9 Wine & Liquor Warehouse in Clifton Park, New York, said.
European wines make up around 35% of sales at his store, he said.
Others seemed to want to stay out of the fray. Total Wine, which
operates 279 stores in 29 U.S. states, didn't respond to a request
for comment Thursday. Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, one of the
country's largest alcohol distributors, also didn't respond to a
message seeking comment.
___
Anderson reported from New York. Durbin reported from Detroit. AP
Writers Colleen Barry in Rome, John Leicester in Paris and Zeke
Miller in Washington contributed.
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