French wine exports to the United States were almost cut in half in November after the 25% tax imposed by the Trump administration came into effect in mid-October, French Secretary of State for Commerce announced Friday outside Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.
"Wine exports to the United States in November fell 44% from October," said the secretary of state when presenting annual foreign trade figures in 2019, adding that 'he did not yet have figures for the whole of the past year.
"Shock for the sector"
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne however called to "interpret" these figures for November "with caution". "There may have been anticipations in October to build up stocks," he said, noting that US taxes came into effect on October 16.
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne however recognized that the entry into force of these taxes, imposed within the framework of the dispute which opposes Washington and Brussels on the subsidies to Airbus and Boeing, constituted a "shock for the French wine sector" and recalled the measures taken by the government to deal with it. "We have doubled the budget of the Sopexa agency (communication agency specializing in food products) and we have asked Business France to increase its actions towards a certain number of geographies in favor of the wine sector", in particular Japan, he said.
At the European level, with the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume, "we asked that a compensation fund for losses be set up. We hope to succeed in the weeks, months to come", said Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. In the fall, Washington was authorized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to apply taxes on various European products, including French wines, in retaliation for subsidies paid to Airbus by European states.