100% Tariffs on European wines are being proposed by the U.S. Trade Representative.  Public comment to impact the decision closes on January 13, 2020.  These tariffs if imposed will double the price of your favorite wine imports and cause catastrophic revenue loss and business closures throughout the wine, liquor, restaurant, bar, hospitality, entertainment, importing and shipping industries and will also impact city and state governments.  To prevent this from happening, we need your help taking some immediate action.

The potential negative outcomes that these tariffs will create in the marketplace, include, but are not limited to:

  • The price of your favorite imported bottles of wine will double
  • You may no longer be able to get the wines that you are accustomed to getting from Italy and throughout Europe
  • People will lose their jobs, causing a ripple effect throughout the economy
  • Restaurants and Bars will have lost business
  • Trucking, Shipping, Importing, State and Local Governments will have a significant loss of revenues

The disturbing fact is that these tariffs are being considered due to a Boeing Airbus trade dispute, completely unrelated to the wine industry.  Again, we need your help to prevent these tariffs from being implemented.

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Click on the link below to leave a comment on the US Trade Representative Website under the Enforcement of U.S. WTO Rights in Large Civil Aircraft Dispute https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USTR-2019-0003-2518

You can write your own message or copy and paste the letter listed below, written by Tom Wark, Executive Director of the National Organization of Wine Retailers in the comments section.

Re: Opposition to Tariffs on Imported Wine from the European Union

Dear Amb. Lighthizer:

I am writing as a customer and consumer of imported and domestic wines that is concerned with the multiple rounds of tariffs that are being imposed and considered on wine from the European Union (“EU”), particularly the proposed 100% tariffs on EU wines. I strongly urge you not to punish me, or my fellow wine lovers, or the hardworking wine retailers, restaurateurs, importers and distributors for problems we didn’t cause. It’s unfair at face value. You should punish those responsible. Punishing Airbus and their suppliers and French digital services companies would be much more effective, as well as fair.

Because of these import tariffs, the prices will go up dramatically for wine. Margins on wine are extremely small, and the sale of wine is highly regulated, with virtually every state imposing a three-tier distribution system with markups occurring at each tier of distribution. Thus, a 25-percent tariff on wine imports will likely result in a 50-percent increase and a 100-percent tariff on wine imports will likely result in a 150-percent increase in prices for a consumer like me.

There is no substitute for imports of wine from the EU. Wines from the EU are different from domestic wines and wines from other countries as a matter of consumer taste. 

As a wine consumer, I do not understand why individual consumers like me should suffer because of a dispute involving Boeing and Airbus. Retaliatory tariffs on these matters should target Airbus and their suppliers who benefitted from the subsidies or French digital services companies.

  1. Email your state representative, click here.
  2. Email your state senator, click here.
  3. Email The White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

A few articles of reference on this topic include:

Please share this information and call for action with your family and friends.  We are running out of time.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely, Julius Angelini