Fight The Tariffs!

The United States government is threatening to impose 100% Tariffs on all wines from the European Union – French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German wines – including both still and sparkling, regardless of alcohol level.

If these tariffs go through, the price of wines to both retailers and wine lovers could skyrocket. We need your help.

Please take a few minutes to contact your U.S. Congressperson and U.S. Senator, as well as the U.S. Trade Representative and tell them NOT TO SUPPORT THESE DESTRUCTIVE and ANTI-CONSUMER TARIFFS.

The U.S. Trade Representative is accepting comments on the matter until January 13, 2020. Let your voice be heard in the fight against the proposed 100% tariffs. Should these tariffs be approved it will not only impact wine, it will also impact imported liqueurs, single-malt scotch / whiskeys, as well as other imported EU goods (ie cheese, olives, and oils). Many of these things are already being impacted by a 25% tariff which was put in place back in October 2019. (Only wines of 14% alcohol or less are currently impacted)

Write to your U.S. Representative

https://account.votility.com/enterprise/NAWR/ec/698

Write to your U.S. Senator

https://account.votility.com/enterprise/NAWR/ec/697

Write to the U.S. Trade Representative

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=USTR-2019-0003-2518

These tariffs have nothing to do with the Airbus issue! The wine industry is simply caught in the crossfire and it is unfair that so many other industries should be punished in an aircraft parts dispute which clearly has nothing to do with wine, spirits, cheese and olives. Let your policymakers in Washington D.C. know that you will not take on this unfair and unnecessary financial burden because of what European and American Governments and the World Trade Organization allowed to happen in the Airbus dispute. Those burdens need to be tackled by the industries that are actually a part of the issue.

Feel free to copy and paste the italicized example letter to the U.S. Trade Representative below or you can write your own after following the links above. The Senator and U.S. Representative links will automatically fill in the correct individual after you include your address. On the Trade Representative link there will be boxes that ask for your first and last name but you can skip those boxes if you wish to remain anonymous .

Thank you in advance for your support of the wine and hospitality industry!

The Honorable Robert Lighthizer
U.S. Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President
600 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Re: Opposition to Tariffs on Imported Wine from the European Union

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

I am writing as a customer and consumer of imported and domestic wines that is concerned with the multiple rounds of tariffs that are being imposed and considered on wine from the European Union (“EU”).  I strongly urge you not to punish me, or my fellow wine lovers, or the hardworking wine retailers for problems we didn’t cause. It’s unfair at face value. You should punish those responsible. Punishing Airbus and their suppliers and French digital services companies would be much more effective, as well as fair.

Beginning on October 18, 2019, the U.S. Government imposed a 25-percent tariff on certain French wine as part of retaliatory tariffs against the European Union (“EU”) after the World Trade Organization authorized retaliation for the EU’s failure to comply with WTO rulings on subsidies provided to Airbus. All the while Airbus itself was only issued a 10% tariff. I understand that a 100-percent tariff is proposed on French sparkling wine (consisting mostly of champagne) and that this tariff is part of the Section 301 duties imposed on imports from France as a result of the country’s Digital Services Tax (“DST”). Finally, on December 10, 2019, USTR proposed imposing tariffs of up to 100 percent on all wines from the EU.

Because of these import tariffs, the prices will go up dramatically for wine. Margins on wine are extremely small, and the sale of wine is highly regulated, with virtually every state imposing a three-tier distribution system with markups occurring at each tier of distribution.  Thus, a 25-percent tariff on wine imports will likely result in a 50-percent increase and a 100-percent tariff on wine imports will likely result in a 150-percent increase in prices for a consumer like me.

There is no substitute for imports of wine from the EU. Wines from the EU are different from domestic wines and wines from other countries as a matter of consumer taste.  In addition, because it takes many years to plant new grape vineyards and allow the vineyards to produce mature fruit that can be harvested to make wine, it will take at least a decade before the U.S. domestic wine industry could ever be in a position to begin replacing wine imports from the EU.

As a wine consumer, I do not understand why individual consumers like me should suffer because of a dispute involving Boeing and Airbus or France’s digital services tax.  Retaliatory tariffs on these matters should target Airbus and their suppliers who benefitted from the subsidies or French digital services companies.