Sour grapes as U.S. wine sellers fear looming luxury tariffs on France

Record ID: 1451918

  • Title: Sour grapes as U.S. wine sellers fear looming luxury tariffs on France
  • Date: 8th January 2020
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 7, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERT TOBIASSEN, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BEVERAGE IMPORTERS, SAYING: "And what is frustrating to so many people in both the Airbus case and the DST, the digital services tax case, is that wine has nothing to do with airplanes, wine has nothing to do with the services taxes."
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2020 00:03
  • Keywords: French digital services tax French wine U.S Trade Representative U.S. President Trump U.S. tariffs champagne
  • Location: WASHINGTON D.C., & LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / PARIS/CALAIS, FRANCE
  • City: WASHINGTON D.C., & LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / PARIS/CALAIS, FRANCE
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Government/Politics,International Trade
  • Reuters ID: LVA009BV6ELVR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:U.S. consumers, companies and workers will pay the biggest price for proposed 100% tariffs on French Champagne and other sparkling wines, cheese, porcelain, enamel cookware and handbags, witnesses told the U.S. government on Tuesday (January 7).
    The U.S. Trade Representative's office last month proposed punitive duties on $2.4 billion in imports from France of sparkling wines and other goods after concluding that a new French digital services tax would harm U.S. firms.
    Those tariffs would come on top of 25% tariffs already imposed on a wide range of Airbus jets, European cheeses, wines and other products in a dispute with the European Union over aircraft subsidies. Washington last month said it could raise those tariffs to 100% and subject additional EU products to the tariffs unless a settlement was finally reached.
    The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America estimates the proposed 100% tariffs on French sparkling wines alone would trim overall U.S. wine sales by nearly 2%, resulting in the loss of 17,000 jobs and a total cost to the U.S. economy of $2 billion.
    Overall, the tariffs on European wines were expected to cost some $10 billion in lost revenue and 78,000 job losses, hitting the nation's 47,000 wine retailers and more than 6,500 importers and distributors disproportionately hard.
    U.S. President Trump views tariffs as an effective tool to bring countries to the negotiating table, but economists say the impact of such duties is already slowing growth and manufacturing in the United States and around the world.
    Bill Tomaszewski, general counsel for San Francisco-based Wine.com, the largest U.S. online wine retailer, told Reuters that producers, retailers and importers had been trying to shield consumers from the 25% tariffs that took effect in
    October, but that would not be possible with 100% tariffs.
    "We're not going to be able to do it forever," he said. "Once it hits 100% ... that's when the American consumer is going to feel the effect of it," he said.
    The United Sates is the largest export market for French wine. The 25% tariff applies to shipments worth $1 billion in 2018, while sparkling wine sales totaled $720 million, witnesses told the hearing.
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