The duties could also affect the Italian and European wine industry. The alarm was sounded by the president of Confagricoltura Massimiliano Giansanti, after the president of the United States Donald Trump in a recent interview effectively declared war on French wine, accusing Paris of taxing US wines highly, which does not happen from Washington. “The situation is not fair, and we will have to do something about it”, threatened the tycoon, whose eventual move would however have effects on all European imports, not only on French imports, given that in reality the higher duties (between 11 and 29 cents per bottle, against 5,3/ 19 cents imposed by the USA on labels arriving from Europe) are not decided by France but by European regulation; even if the cousins across the Alps would pay the price for a commercial war, with the United States as the leading export country for wines and spirits, for a value of over 3 billion euros a year (the double that of Italy).
“Any additional US duties – says Giansanti – could not be limited to France, but would inevitably affect all wines imported from the European Union, reducing its competitiveness on the US market”. According to the latest data from Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Commission, in 2017, 32% of the wines exported outside the EU by the Member States (11,3 billion euros in all) was destined for American consumers. “We can only be worried – underlines the president of Italian farmers – considering that the exports of Italian wines to the USA amount to about 1,5 billion euros and are the first item of our agri-food exports on the American market. It is necessary to prevent trade tensions between the US and China from spreading to the European Union. It is therefore necessary to start, without further delay, the bilateral negotiations envisaged in the agreement reached in July 2018 by Presidents Trump and Juncker".
Confagricoltura also recalled that in recent weeks, following a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on public aid granted to Airbus, the United States drew up a list of products for a value of 11 billion dollars, on which apply additional duties. The list includes the main products of the agri-food "Made in Italy".. For its part, as a possible retaliatory measure, the EU Commission has drawn up a list of products imported from the US to be subjected to additional tariffs for a value of 20 billion euros. All that is needed to trigger American tariffs and the expected European reaction is the assessment of the WTO, expected by July, on the amount of the maneuver finalized in Washington. “There isn't much time left – concludes Giansanti – to avoid starting a trade war between the European Union and the United States”. A war that could also affect the flourishing Italian wine industry.
