French President Emmanuel Macron warned against an important impact on Thursday, during his meeting with representatives of the most affected industries, including wine and spirits.
Vincent Dampt, the owner of the wine property in Chablis, Burgundy, described these customs duties as “bad news”.
“But that could be worse,” Dam added. He was very concerned about a possible increase in cells by 200 %. ”
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Last month, President Trump threatened to impose 200 % of customs duties for wines, champagne and European spirits if the European Union (EU) was introduced by his customs duties for American whiskey.
Dampt suggested that the negotiated solutions between the EU and the United States and say that the open trade war would be harmful to business.
“We’re not at school,” he said. If you answer too fast with the same violence, it is not constructive. ”
The third generation winemaker, Mr. Dapt exports about 30 % of his production in the United States or about 25,000 bottles. The decline in sales in this country would have serious consequences for its business.
The white wine of Chablis was also the goal of customs duties within the first Trump administration, at the peak of the conflict between Boeing and Airbus.
There is only one way for Mr. Damt to retaliate and maintain your presence in the United States: to reduce your prices and reduce your profits. But he said that “it’s not easy”, especially now that he lost around 50 % of his harvest last year, mainly because of the storm of railway and deadly frosts.
The intermediate office of Burgundy wines said that in its statement he expects the sector to be “strongly influenced”, the US is the first export market for Burgun wines.
“If this new measure affects our exports, the impact on Burgundy wines, which can be around EUR 100 million, will not cause a brutal stop because this would be the case with higher taxes,” wrote the professional association in the document.
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Last year, the United States remained the first export market with a wine produced in the EU with EUR 4.88 billion ($ 7.66 billion), said the European Committee for Wine Enterprise (ECEV) in a press release. Exports to the United States were 28 % of the total value of EU wine exports, he said.
New customs duties would create “economic uncertainty and led to release, investment reports and price increases,” said Marzia Varvaglione, President Ceev. “There is no alternative wine market that could compensate for the loss of the US market.”
Macron criticizes a “brutal” decision
President Macron condemned the decision on duties as “brutal and unfounded”. In addition to the wine industry, a meeting in Palais de l’Elysée gathered representatives of aviation, chemistry and metallurgy, electronics, luxury, cosmetics and food.
Mr. Macron said that France is likely to be slightly less affected than some of his neighbors, because exports to the United States represent 1.5 % of French GDP, over 3 % for Italy and 4 % for Germany.
He stressed that the US economy would first undergo a negative impact of customs duties.
“One thing is for sure with decisions this night, the US economy and Americans, whether they are companies or citizens, will come less than yesterday and poorer,” Macron said.
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