Paris (AFP)
Will tax, not tax? A few days before the G7, French winemakers fear to pay the cost of the new French tax on the digital giants, topic of transatlantic discord invited to the table of heads of state in Biarritz.
Representatives of Amazon, Facebook and other bosses of the Internet collectively raised Monday against this tax, called "Gafa" because it strikes in the first place the American giants of the sector Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
And US President Donald Trump, the singer of "America first", repeatedly threatened to take retaliatory measures, suggesting August 9, a 100% tax on French wines, at a meeting in the Hamptons, according to Bloomberg.
The threat seems all the more serious because even before the adoption of the French tax on July 11, Donald Trump, known for not drinking wine, already suggested that he could impose customs duties on French wine, to correct a competition considered "unfair" vis-à-vis American wines. "France taxes wine a lot and we tax little French wine," he had denounced CNBC.
What worry wine France, the world's third largest exporter of wine by volume and first in value. A new tax would indeed raise prices for American consumers. But French wines and spirits still found their first outlet last year in the United States, with 18.29 million boxes of twelve bottles sold for 1.6 billion euros.
"We must take very seriously the threats of the American president, the wine can not be taken hostage in an international trade negotiation, we hope an agreement with the United States on Gafa, I explained on July 27 to Minister of the Economy Bruno The Mayor, indicates to the AFP Jérome Despey, in charge of the branch viticulture within the first French agricultural organization, the FNSEA.
- In the United States, rosé means Provence -
In the uncertainty, all the vineyards and all the wine regions do not react in the same way.
"We are worried of course because the United States represents our first market in value behind France," said AFP Maxime Toubard, who represents the winegrowers of Champagne. However, he remains "confident" because "American consumers like champagne".
Even your half-cautious half-worried Cognac, where the American market alone accounts for nearly half of exports. We remain "vigilant", but "nothing is confirmed", reassures a source of the profession.
For Thomas Montagne, president of the European Confederation of Independent Vine Producers (CEVI), the French wines that would be most affected by a possible US tax "will not be very great wines".
"If they are not consumed in the United States, they will be elsewhere, they are wines of great guard who can wait before being sold," he said on France Inter. On the other hand, the wines of average or entry-level will "make the expenses of the operation".
In Provence, worn for some years by the craze for rosé wine in the United States, the threat is taken very seriously.
"The United States now accounts for 46% of our exports, but ten years ago we sold virtually nothing," says a manager of the industry.
Two brands are at the origin of this boom: the "Whispering angel" imposed in the United States by the producer of Var Sacha Lichine, of Bordeaux origin, followed by the "Miraval castle" launched by actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with the Rhône merchant family Marc Perrin, very established in the United States.
"They have reached the target of young consumers, playing on a festive image, mixing the natural and the art of living of the south, and the entire profession has rushed behind," says the manager.
To the point that "today, when we say rosé in the United States, we mean Provence," says Jean-Jacques Bréban, president of the Interprofessional Council of Provence wines (CIVP), which is actively seeking other outlets, in China in particular.
"With the United States, and Trump, we sail on sight, and it's all the harder to live that it is already very difficult to predict what will happen with Great Britain and Brexit .. our second customer, "said a senior French viticultural manager.
© 2019 AFP