PARIS (Reuters) -The European Union and the United States need to de-escalate their trade dispute and wine and spirits should be left untouched by both sides, said Florent Morillon, the president of the National Interprofessional Office of Cognac (BNIC), the cognac industry’s lobby group.
“We will very clearly lose market share,” he said in an interview with Reuters. “For our region and our entire economy, it is a cold shower.”
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on Wednesday sweeping tariffs on imports, including 20% on products from the European Union.
The cognac industry has separately also faced pressure from China, which imposed temporary tariffs on shipments of the spirit in October amid a dispute with the European Union over electric vehicles. The United States and China are the cognac industry’s most important export markets.
Last month, Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products. The EU plan was itself a reaction to Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Asked about the risk of additional U.S. tariffs on cognac, Morillon said the group was under the impression that discussions were on track to avoid that scenario, but that it needed to remain prudent.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Makini Brice)
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