European wine and spirits look set to face a 15% tariff on entry to the US from next month, EU officials and diplomats have said.
Hopes had been raised that the EU and US could agree to “zero-for-zero” tariffs for wine and spirits, after a number of exemptions were carved out to the 15% base rate tariff announced last weekend.
However, tipples such as champagne and cognac will be – initially at least – subject to the levy, it appears.
“The Commission remains determined to achieve and secure the maximum number of carve-outs including … wine and spirits,” EU Commission spokesperson for trade Olof Gill said in a press conference on Thursday (31 July) .“It is not our expectation that wine and spirits will be included as an exemption in the first group announced by the US tomorrow and therefore that sector will be captured by the 15% ceiling.”
Earlier in the week, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said “no decision” had been made regarding European booze exports and that discussions were ongoing.
“This is something which has to be sorted out in the next days,” she said.
But talks now appear set to go on beyond the 1 August date when tariffs will take effect. A senior diplomat close to the negotiations told Reuters discussions on wine tariffs would continue after the EU and US finalised their joint statement on the trade deal.
“[This will take place] probably in the autumn,” they said. “My understanding is that they would go at the flat 15% rate.”
It was “less clear” whether spirits would also face the same tariffs, the diplomat said, adding a previous zero-rate tariff for both EU and US spirits could yet be revived.
EU officials have been pushing hard for exemption to President Donald Trump’s tariffs for wine and spirits, arguing that many of these products cannot be produced in the US.
Finance minister Éric Lombard told French newspaper Libération on Monday (28 July) that the exemption granted to the aviation industry “should apply to spirits”.
Meanwhile, Bernard Arnault, the billionaire owner of luxury group LVMH – which owns the Moët & Chandon champagne and Hennessy cognac brands – is said to be directly lobbying both the Trump administration and EU Commission to secure a carve-out for wine and spirits.
In an op-ed for Les Echos newspaper, Arnault wrote the dispute “exposes a flagship sector of European viticulture to great uncertainty”.
“I hope that the ongoing discussions will help clarify this issue,” he added.
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