Paris (AFP)

No end-of-year truce in the old transatlantic trade showdown over aeronautical aid: Washington has decided to tighten customs duties on European products, attracting dismayed reactions from Airbus, French winegrowers and Brussels.

This new offensive, applicable on January 12, targets French and German products by increasing customs duties on non-sparkling wines, grape must and cognacs by 25%, and by 15% on fuselage, tail and tail parts. other aeronautical parts - until then spared while complete planes were already taxed at 15% -, according to a list released Thursday by the US Trade Representative (USTR).

These taxes, announced three weeks before the end of Donald Trump's mandate, will be added to those already imposed since 2019 on European imports such as wine, cheese, olive oil or whiskey, as well as on planes. of Airbus.

"This unilateral American action is disrupting the ongoing negotiations between the Commission and the US Trade Representative to find a settlement in the long conflict between aircraft manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus, editor's note)," the European Commission reacted in a statement Thursday.

"The EU will work with the new American administration as soon as possible to continue these negotiations and find a lasting solution to this dispute," added the European executive.

For their part, four French ministers, including that of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, regretted in a joint statement an "unfriendly" decision, promising to initiate "discussions with the new American administration" as soon as possible "to find" a lasting solution to this dispute ".

They also promised to receive representatives of the wine industry "next week".

- "sacrificed" sector -

"We feared the escalation of the conflict, we are there, and it will last," lamented to AFP the president of the Federation of French Wine and Spirits Exporters (FEVS), César Giron, estimating that the lack of win could exceed one billion euros for the wine industry.

The French wine and spirits sector is "sacrificed for a dispute over aeronautics", denounces the Federation.

Airbus regretted "that the USTR has decided to escalate this conflict by taking a measure that is also harming the manufacturing industry, workers and American consumers."

The aircraft manufacturer added to be "convinced that Europe will react appropriately".

Airbus argues that the new taxes will particularly penalize imports of parts for its assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

The extension of customs duties was felt on the markets: at the close, Remy Cointreau lost 3.97% to 152.30 euros (steepest drop in the SBF120) and Pernod Ricard 2.06% to 156.80 euros, while Airbus yielded 1.61% to 89.78 euros.

Washington had been authorized to take customs reprisals by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

And in October, in a mirror decision, the institution also authorized the EU to apply additional customs duties on products imported from the United States.

- "Compensate for this injustice" -

The United States believes that the perimeter chosen by the EU to calculate its punitive taxes leads to too high an amount levied on American products.

Airbus and its American competitor Boeing, and through them the European Union and the United States, have been clashing since October 2004 before the WTO over public aid paid to the two groups, deemed illegal, in the longest commercial conflict and the most complicated handled by the justice of the peace of world trade.

The United States was authorized in October 2019 to impose taxes on nearly 7.5 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros) of European goods and services imported each year, the heaviest sanction ever imposed by the 'WTO.

Washington has since imposed certain products imported from the European Union up to 25%, 15% for (whole) Airbus planes.

In retaliation, the EU has imposed tariffs on US $ 4 billion of US exports since the beginning of November.

Boeing are taxed at 15%, and certain agricultural, agrifood or manufactured products at 25%.

burs-mlb-fs / tq / swi

© 2020 AFP