One of the earliest reports from yesterday’s U.S. Trade Representative wine tariff hearing (the first of two), including notes on the “two dozen wine wholesalers and retailers” who spoke.
Couple of big takeaways:
- French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters in Paris that he and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had agreed to double their “efforts in the coming days to try and reach a compromise on digital taxation at the OECD.”
“We gave ourselves 15 days, until our next meeting in Davos in end-January. We want to try all options to reach an agreement at the OECD in the next 15 days,” Le Maire said.
Could we have a decision on this by the end of the month?
- Amazon, Google and Facebook endorsed the administration’s plan to slap tariffs on $2.4 billion worth of French cheese, Champagne, handbags and other goods if a negotiated solution can’t be reached over the tax, which applies to such things as targeted advertising and providing platforms to connect buyers and sellers.
We are up against the mighty three. Do we stand a chance?
Click here to read the Politico article in its entirety. A must-read.
Do Bianchi 
The wine industry does not stand a chance against the Mighty Three. They are known tax evaders and do not care that the tariff would be extremely damaging to American businesses and jobs. Perhaps it is time to boycott Amazon, Facebook, and Google.
Good luck boycotting The Mighty Three! Good luck!!!
As an American wine producer, new tariffs will somewhat set an equal playground for the 40% tariffs on American wines that the EU has been imposing on our wines for decades. It’s nearly impossible to export American wines to the EU, hence, the few American wines that you find in Europe are worth 1/4 the price on average in retail in the US (Average retail price of Gallo’s Woodbridge wines is $25, if you can find it of course).
New tariffs will also spur massive growth in our local economy. We Americans are the #1 wine consumer in the world since 2011, yet we are the 4th producer in the world behind France, Spain and Italy. Last time I checked the map, we have more than 5 times land suitable for wine grapes growing than these 3 countries combined. The new tariffs will stimulate the consumption of new world wines (yes a lot of other countries will benefit too) and more US dollars spent on wine stay in America instead of sending it elsewhere.
Whether The Mighty Three are right or wrong, we Americans should support local wineries first and stand for American products and companies.
At the end of the day, the EU is the one that initiated these tariffs, NOT USA. The ball is on their court, so please STFU and let our elected officials stand for us, Americans.
I think with tariffs a lot of stuff gets thrown into the bin and gets mixed up. As an American living in Europe– sure I think New World quality wines should not face steep tariffs. (Oregon and Russian River Pinot Noirs are expensive enough already). But this whole thing started with other issues: airplane subsidies (which both sides use) and this digital services tax (Note Texas, Louisiana and Alabama have digital services taxes– Do countries not have the right?) The government does not care about the American wine industry– they care about threatening the European wine industry because it is so vital to the culture in ways the American wine industry is not and will never be (If wine were vital to American culture, Prohibition would have never happened. In the US, wine is a beverage and luxury product not part of life. I also want to see more quality US products exported because the exports that so visibly make it to Europe is the cheap bad stuff: Colonel Sanders, Coca Cola, and overly sugared snack foods and breakfast cereals. I’d rather see more TESLA’s which btw are everywhere now. In summation wine is a bit player — the government cares more about Big Ag than you sadly and this is just a stunt. If American cities were suddenly bereft of French and Italian wines, wine consumption would drop in half. Sure people would drink more New World. But I really think the winner would be a category that would provide diversity and sustainability (not shipping glass all over the world in such quantity): cocktails.
James: seriously where does the 40% figure come from. According to the wine institute : “EU import tariff per 750 bottle can range from $0.11 to 0.29, “ sounds like pennies to me. Are you confusing shipping costs and distribution with tariffs?