Washington keeps the pressure on the European economy: the United States announced Thursday that it is extending its tariffs on imports from the EU. This decision is the latest episode in a dispute between the two powers over a trade dispute dating from October 2004, about public aid to European aircraft manufacturers Airbus and American Boeing. Sixteen years later, the French wine industry pays, alone, a very salty bill. This is what Bernard Farges, president of the National Confederation of AOC viticultural, explains on Europe 1.
Drop in exports of more than 15%
Concretely, Washington has maintained the amount of goods and services concerned at 7.5 billion dollars, with an unchanged rate of 25% for French, German, Spanish wines and British whiskeys. "We should not be the collateral victims of the Boeing-Airbus subject", regrets Bernard Farges. "This has now been going on since October 18, 2019", the date of application of these American taxes on French bottles.
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Ten months after the entry into force of these sanctions, the French industry is gray. "We now have very bad figures for the United States, in the order of -15 to -20% depending on the French wine regions," says the official. "The American market was an important market for French wines," notes the manager, while the United States represents 18% of the value of French wine exporters, according to the latest figures available.
A "double penalty" at the time of the recovery
Above all, wine producers face "a difficult international context, with the slowdown in China and of course the Covid-19, which has slowed down wine consumption all over the world", continues Bernard Farges.
The president of the National Confederation of AOC viticultural points out the inaction of the public authorities in the rescue of the sector: "The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, told us directly at the Salon de l'Agriculture that he was dealing with of this subject with the European Commission. But for the moment, we have seen absolutely nothing. In the subjects of post-Covid recovery, there is nothing which comes to compensate for the loss of marketing towards the United States. It's double full, ”he criticizes.