Yet more bad news for the wine biz: European wines and spirits are now trapped under a 15% U.S. tariff—with no exemption in sight.
Kick us while we’re down, why don’t ya?!?
Despite impassioned lobbying by France and Italy, Washington has held firm against carving out wine and spirits from this tariff sweep. Those of us who love vino, of course, understand that it’s not a “luxury” escapism for the elite (well, not just that, anyway): it’s also a cornerstone consumable driving innumerable small businesses. Real people will suffer because of these policies and the uncertainty around them:
- The U.S. Wine Trade Alliance projects that the uncertainty around tariffs has already cost the industry $479 million in May alone.
- Retailers, restaurants, and importers—from Napa Valley to New York—are already bracing, or folding, under pressure. Back in March, V.O.S. Selections, a New York importer, sued—arguing the tariffs are not only bad trade strategy but unconstitutional. Not that the current administration in D.C. seems to give a shiny, shaved rat’s ass about the Constitution lately, but still…
- And now, consumers could very well see European wine prices spike up to 30% by this September.
This isn’t a great negotiation tactic—it’s a faulty bottle of poor policy that risks choking off a global, vital cultural and economic artery. And yes, probably part of a convenient, temporary distraction from some D.C. scandals. The key point here is that there do not seem to be any actual winners by using wine as a tariff pawn.
Some may argue that tariffs are a means to protect domestic U.S. wine. But whoops, that’s actually wrong: when import prices rise, consumers don’t defect, they often retreat. It’s not “Buy California instead”—it’s “Buy nothing.”
Meanwhile, U.S. winemakers feel the squeeze, as key European supplies—like corks and barrels—are also tariff‑bound. So… even higher prices are inbound! Yeah!!
What’s also needling about this whole mess isn’t just the economics—it’s also the symbolism. Trade should foster collaboration, not throttle exchange. Wine is diplomacy in a glass, after all.
And as such, wine should not be collateral damage in diplomacy. We should get a wine and spirits tariff carve-out. Especially since this is all coming at the worst possible time for the industry as a whole. But I am not holding by breath on that one…
Cheers!
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