Wine whines: we like our own, says the French, to Trump’s ire
Little American wine is sold in France, partly because it has so much of its own, but mostly because drinkers prefer the local stuff
Paris— Customers at Les Bacchantes, a Paris wine bar, were taken aback by the question, why, among the dozens of offerings, is there not a single US red, white or rosé on the list? “America makes some good wines, but we have everything we need here in France,” said one woman who asked to be identified by her first name, Colette. US President Donald Trump, in a multi-pronged Twitter tirade against his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, complained this week that the country “makes it very hard for the US to sell its wines into France” because of higher tariffs. Trump is right that import duties on wine are higher in France — and across the EU, of which the country is a member. Rates range from about 11c to 29c a bottle, depending on the alcohol content. US tariffs are less than half that, from 5c to 14c. The US suffers from “a significant wine trade deficit” with the EU, said Robert Koch,CEO of the Wine Institute, a US-based trade association. The group says US imports of European wi...
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