Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

19 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

19 hours ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

2 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

2 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

2 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

2 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

2 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

2 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

2 days ago
Prepare Your Taste Buds for Sticker Shock as Tariffs on European Wine, Food Take Hold
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
October 20, 2019

Share

CHABLIS, France — French vintners are begging for government aid. Italian farmers are scrambling for new export markets. And American shoppers are about to face supermarket sticker shock on European products.
That’s because some $7.5 billion in U.S. tariffs on European food, wine and other goods took effect Friday, in response to illegal EU subsidies to planemaker Airbus.
The U.S. is also accused of illegal subsidies — to Boeing — and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom threatened Friday to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. But she held out hope that negotiations could prevent a trade war escalation that would have global fallout.
Louis Moreau feels the sting of the Trump administration’s wine tariffs personally.
A sixth-generation Chablis producer in Burgundy, he cut his teeth in California, where he lived for 10 years before taking over the family business in 1998.
Since then, he’s worked to expand his American business, traveling to the U.S. three times a year to promote his top-quality white wines. Around 8% of his exports, or roughly 17,000 bottles, go to the U.S. each year.
“Where is the logic? It’s not fair,” Moreau told The Associated Press. He said he and other Chablis producers feel they’re being held hostage to an unrelated political dispute.
“We have good relations with our U.S. consumers,” he said.

It’s Not Just France

“This whole thing — it’s a mess in a way — is really putting some stress, some tension on this relationship.”
The U.S. is the No. 1 market for French wine exports, and Moreau estimates the tariffs could cost him 80,000 euros ($90,000) in revenue over the next six months, a 20% loss of his U.S. business.

“This whole thing — it’s a mess in a way — is really putting some stress, some tension on this relationship.” — Louis Moreau
French wine exporters group FEVS asked for government help to compensate for an expected drop in sales as American consumers shun French varieties for cheaper wines from the U.S. or elsewhere.
And it’s not just France.
At Rome’s Testaccio market, which is packed with wheels of Parmesan and strung with cured meats, food shop owner Enzo Paoloantoni urged Italian politicians to fight harder to protect Italy’s economic interests.
Paoloantoni joked that “Trump was very nice to help Italians” by slapping tariffs on world-renowned delicacies that Italy prides itself on.
Italy’s main farm lobby has forecast a 20% drop in sales of agricultural products that represent half a billion euros in export value, and called on the government to help promote Italian goods in other export markets instead.
German Riesling white wine is among the many products that’s about to get more expensive for American shoppers. Germany’s government isn’t happy, but is staying prudent for now.

The Tariffs Come at a Particularly Bad Time for French Winemakers

“We regret that it’s come to the imposition of tariffs by the U.S., because the U.S. is of course harming itself, too, in the end,” Economy Ministry spokeswoman Beate Baron told reporters in Berlin. “Higher tariffs will weigh on the U.S. economy and U.S. consumers.”

“We regret that it’s come to the imposition of tariffs by the U.S., because the U.S. is of course harming itself, too, in the end. Higher tariffs will weigh on the U.S. economy and U.S. consumers.” — Economy Ministry spokeswoman Beate Baron
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the tariffs are “an aggressive gesture” and an “economic mistake” from the U.S.
Le Maire, on a three-day visit to Washington, said the decrease in French wine exports due to the tariffs is estimated to 300 million euros next year. He warned that European countries are ready to retaliate if they don’t reach a negotiated solution.
And 15 U.S. and EU spirits associations said in a letter sent to the Trump administration and the EU’s executive Commission that there are “no winners in a trade war” and called for an immediate end to tariffs on distilled spirits and wines.
“Our industries are collateral damage in trade disputes that have nothing to do with the beverage alcohol sector,” they said.
The tariffs come at a particularly bad time for French winemakers, who also feel threatened by Brexit, a contracting global economy, and a changing climate that is altering harvest patterns.
Wine association representatives have been meeting with French government officials to try to find ways to defer paying the tariffs, Moreau said.
On Friday, as the new rules took effect, workers in Moreau’s warehouse packaged more than 1,000 bottles for export — to Canada.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

DON'T MISS

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

UP NEXT

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

UP NEXT

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

UP NEXT

Markets’ 90-Day Tariff Pause Rollercoaster Nears an Uncertain End

UP NEXT

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

UP NEXT

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

UP NEXT

Colombia President Recalls Ambassador to US

UP NEXT

US-Backed 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire Envisions Gradual Return of Hostages, Official Says

UP NEXT

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

UP NEXT

US Paves Way to Resume Ethane Exports to China Amid Trade Truce

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

19 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

19 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

19 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

19 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

19 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

19 hours ago

Russia Pounds Kyiv With Largest Drone Attack, Hours After Trump-Putin Call

19 hours ago

Boxer Chavez Jr Expected to Be Deported to Mexico to Serve Sentence, Mexican President Says

19 hours ago

Markets’ 90-Day Tariff Pause Rollercoaster Nears an Uncertain End

19 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

19 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign a massive package of tax and spending cuts into law at a ceremony at the White House on Friday, ...

18 hours ago

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
18 hours ago

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

The Madre Fire burning near New Cuyama has scorched 70,801 acres as of Friday, July 4, 2025, afternoon, making it California’s largest wildfire of the year, with only 10% containment and multiple evacuation zones in place. (CalFire)
18 hours ago

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

18 hours ago

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres, France, June 14, 2024. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. (Reuters File)
19 hours ago

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

Billy Wayne Sinisgalli, a 54-year-old transient known locally as Wayne, was found dead along a rural Fresno road Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a suspicious death. (Fresno County SO)
19 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

Israel Builds a Fence Around the West Bank
19 hours ago

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

A view of the site of Thursday's Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)
19 hours ago

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend