French Wine Exporters Contest Being ‘Hostages’ to U.S.

Retaliatory tariff-based price increases could hurt sales.

French Wine
AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu

In the latest on the U.S. decision to place tariffs on EU goods, exporters of French wines and spirits say they rue Washington’s latest decision to impose trade tariffs on European imports. Federation of French Wines and Spirits Exporters President Antoine Leccia said he regretted that “a country that increased its wine consumption and French wine imports now adopts such measures.”

Leccia says he hopes negotiations might ease tensions over European Union subsidies for aviation giant Airbus that led the U.S. to adopt the tariffs in retaliation. He said: “We don’t feel at all initially involved in this litigation, so we feel we are a bit hostages of these retaliatory measures.”

Leccia said the tariffs would increase prices by “$5 to $6 per bottle” and therefore impact sales in the U.S.

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