Donald Trump threatened, this Thursday, March 13, France and the European Union to impose 200 % customs duties on their champagne, wines and other alcohols if new EU tariffs of 50 % on American whiskey are not withdrawn.
The EU announced customs duties on a series of American products on Wednesday, including Bourbon, motorcycles or boats, in retaliation for the surcharges of 25 % in force the same day on steel and aluminum. They should become effective from April 1, a day before the so -called “reciprocal” customs duties wanted by Donald Trump.
“The European Union, one of the most abusive and hostile authorities in the world on taxes and customs duties, […] Just imposed 50 % customs duties on whiskey. If these customs rights are not immediately withdrawn, the United States will quickly impose customs duties of 200 % on all wines, champagnes and alcoholic products from France and other EU countries, “wrote the American president on his Truth Social network. He took the opportunity to accuse the European block of having” been created for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States “.
Serial reprisals
The European Commission’s announcement on customs duties of “strong but proportionate” reprisals on a series of products imported from the United States has worried European producers of spirits.
They have in the wake called the EU and the United States to leave their sector “out of their disputes”, a request visibly not heard by the White House. Spirits Europe, the European lobby of the sector, said, before the announcement of Thursday by Donald Trump, “deeply disappointed” and “extremely concerned” to see European rights over the American American spirits “as part of a war on steel and aluminum, unrelated” with this sector. “This announcement arrives at a particularly difficult time for the spirits sector, in a context of geopolitical tensions and slowdown in many key markets,” said the organization in a press release.
A transatlantic agreement dating from 1997 had eliminated customs barriers. According to the group, this had allowed exchange growth of 450 % until 2018, when the previous Trump administration launched its First Trade War.
The United States represents the first international market in the sector. French sales increased there 5 % in 2024, reaching 3.8 billion euros, including exports of wines and cognac, according to the French Federation of Wine Exporters and Spirits. Spirits have already been hampered in 2024 by the consequences of the anti-dumping survey launched by China against wine-of-life produced in the EU, including Cognac and Armagnac. These commercial retaliations resulted in a 25 % drop in exports to the China/Hong-Kong/Singapore zone.