More Wine Tariffs: A Serious Obstacle For Restaurants

January 22, 2021

In October of 2019, the U.S. imposed a 10-25% tariff on products imported from France, Spain, and Germany in retaliation to the increasingly dramatic dispute on aircraft industry subsidies. This included wine below 14% ABV.

These tariffs are expected to be implemented even further, especially targeting France and Germany because of their deeper involvement in aircraft subsidies, according to the United States Trade Representative.

Now, wine from France and Germany above 14% ABV will be taxed an additional 25%, as the U.S. and E.U. insist on doing everything except repealing subsidies.

This includes increased tariffs on aircraft related materials as well as…brandy?

While this is an attempt at sending a message to the E.U., (which was a response to the E.U. sending a message to the U.S.), it seems our governments don’t realize how deeply this harms our own hospitality/wine/spirits industries…

As if we haven’t been beaten to a pulp by this pandemic already.

If these high tariffs persist, the cost of imports will increase on top of something that is already heavily taxed. This cost ultimately falls to the consumer, likely pricing out even the most avid fans of Old World wines… if it is even available.

As this trickles down, it will affect “wines by the glass” lists at your local restaurants, one of their biggest source of revenue. Not only this, but options will significantly decrease. Even if you could get a Burgundy by the glass, it will be significantly more expensive and maybe not even that good.

“But can’t you just drink local wine?”

I mean, yeah. But there are styles, vineyards, winemakers and terroirs that simply cannot be replaced or replicated. A Chardonnay from California will never be the same as a Chardonnay from France. We like it that way.

This makes the world just a little bit smaller, makes beautiful wine even more inaccessible and harms an entire unrelated industry. Why? Because the U.S. and E.U. are mad they caught each other not following WTO trade regulations?

There is hope that the new Biden Administration, supposedly aware of the issue, can resolve this quickly and maturely…we must hope this will end sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, the Coalition to Stop Restaurant Tariffs and U.S. Wine Trade Alliance are actively calling upon the Biden Administration seeking relief. Keep checking on them. They also have up to date news articles on the process.

Cheers, everyone.