“Coraggio a tutti noi!” was the last message received yesterday before my phone was silenced last night. “Stay strong, everyone!”

Italian wine people on both sides of the Atlantic are freaking out after Trump’s post announcing looming 200 percent tariffs on European wines.

For many industry actors, the threat represents an existential crisis.

The U.S. is by far the largest importer and consumer of Italian wine.

The U.S. is also an important media market for Italian wines: high-profile placements in major U.S. cities serve to position the brands on an international level. All those Mionetto umbrellas are good for something, after all.

In my last message to my Italian interlocutors last night, I pointed out — and this is extremely important, Italians! — the tariffs are not yet here. They are most likely coming. But let’s wait for the official declaration (not the Trump post) to see what they will entail.

Colleagues have been asking me questions like: “will they apply to volume or value?” and “will they apply to ex-cellar prices or importers’ wholesale prices?”

The answer is simply that we don’t know and we need to wait and see what they will look like. And we don’t know if they will reach 200 percent, a figure that seems unlikely given the tariffs imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico.

It’s no secret that Trump uses bluster and hyperbole as a negotiating tactic. It’s also clear that Trump will follow through on the threat, as he has done with Canada and Mexico, countries that were once our friends and largest trading partners.

But the way Trump’s post has been reported in mainstream and social media in Italy makes it sounds as if the tariffs are already in place.

Now it’s time to hold tight and prepare. It’s time to band together as community and help one another as partners on both sides of the divide.

There’s going to be sacrifice and there is going to be pain. But we will get through to the other side. For now, let’s wait and see what transpires.

Coraggio a tutti noi! Hang in there, everyone. Stay strong.