Drinks Trade Urges Talks After U.S. Tariff Announcement
Drinks industry groups in the U.S. and abroad are urging negotiations aimed at defusing trade tensions following yesterday’s announcement of broad U.S. tariffs imposed on countries both large and small. Speaking from the White House Rose Garden yesterday afternoon the president unveiled a 10% standard tariff across the board, as well as higher levies on specific trading partners, including a 20% tariff on goods from the European Union.
While well shy of the 200% tariff the U.S. had previously threatened on European Union beverage alcohol products, the 20% charge is an unwelcome development for imported wine and spirits, hitting key categories like Italian, French, and Spanish wines along with Cognac and other E.U. spirits. The U.K. will be under a lower levy of 10%. The French federation of wine and spirits exporters (FEVS) expects the move to reduce U.S. sales by 20%.
The E.U. tariff in particular will put further pressure on the U.S. imported wine segment, in which depletions declined 3.3% to just under 65 million cases last year, according to Impact Databank. Italy and France are the two largest imported wine segments in the U.S., and Spain, Germany, and Portugal are also among the top 10. Other key import regions like New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina will face a 10% tariff.
“We’ve been through this before,” said Laurent Delaunay, president of the Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB). “During his first term, Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff in 2019 on still wines in bottles, as part of the Boeing-Airbus trade dispute. The effect was immediate: our exports to the U.S. plummeted by 15% in volume in 2020, leading to a 22% drop in revenue.”
Retaliatory tariffs in other countries could heighten trade barriers for U.S. exports as well. “Today’s announcement of new tariffs will only make it harder for American wineries to regain access to Canada, by far our most important export market,” said Robert Koch, president of The Wine Institute. “In early March, Canada cleared its shelves of all U.S. wine and continues to block its sale. As this dispute drags on, it is creating economic instability at a time when the industry is already under significant pressure.”
The Wine Institute added that “wine, unlike manufactured goods, is a unique agricultural product and should not be targeted in trade disputes unrelated to the sector. Retaliatory tariffs not only harm U.S. wine producers but also stall growth and innovation across the entire wine sector.”
“We urge President Trump to liberate the U.S. spirits sector from these tariff disputes by negotiating deals that get us back to fair and reciprocal zero-for-zero tariffs for spirits products,” said Chris Swonger, president and CEO of DISCUS. For context, DISCUS noted that “nearly 86% of U.S. spirits exports ($2.1 billion) go to countries that eliminated tariffs on U.S. spirits. In exchange, the U.S. opened its market for imported spirits by eliminating tariffs. As a result, approximately 98% of spirits imported into the U.S. originate from countries that have eliminated tariffs on U.S. spirits exports.”
In the first Trump administration, a dispute over aluminum and steel led the E.U. to impose a 25% retaliatory tariff on American whiskey, which resulted in a 20% sales drop, from $552 million to $440 million (2018-2021). “During the last three years that the tariffs have been suspended,” DISCUS added, “American whiskey exports to the E.U. surged nearly 60%, climbing from $439 million in 2021 to $699 million in 2024.”
Separately, the U.S. administration also imposed a 25% levy on canned beer imports yesterday. That move will hit large Mexican beer brands like Modelo Especial, Corona, Pacifico (all part of the Constellation Brands range), Tecate, and Dos Equis (both imported by Heineken). Constellation now counts around 80% of sales from its beer portfolio, propelled by its large and growing Mexican stable of brands.—Daniel Marsteller
| Imported Table Wine Market In the U.S. (millions of 9-liter case depletions) |
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| Origin1 | 2023 | 2024E | Percent Change2 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 22.81 | 21.85 | -4.2% | |||
| France | 12.86 | 12.42 | -3.4% | |||
| New Zealand | 7.66 | 7.67 | 0.2% | |||
| Australia | 6.56 | 6.50 | -2.2% | |||
| Chile | 3.85 | 3.84 | -0.2% | |||
| Argentina | 3.75 | 3.43 | -8.4% | |||
| Spain | 3.24 | 3.13 | -3.5% | |||
| Portugal | 2.07 | 2.03 | -2.0% | |||
| Germany | 1.65 | 1.58 | -4.3% | |||
| South Africa | 0.75 | 0.72 | -3.8% | |||
| Other Origins | 1.88 | 1.79 | -5.1% | |||
| Total Imported Table Wine3 |
67.16 | 64.95 | -3.3% | |||
| 1 Includes some domestic table wine sourced from overseas. 2 Based on unrounded data. 3 Addition of columns may not agree due to rounding. Source: IMPACT DATABANK © 2025 |
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