Chinese and US tariffs could sink French cognac
Hit hard by the trade war between the United States and China, French cognac will know by mid-July what tariffs it will be subjected to. These decisions could well be a massive blow to this luxury export, to the point that some French winegrowers are already considering uprooting their vines, reports this Swiss daily.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the French National Assembly, who is visiting China, said on Saturday that she hoped for a lifting of Chinese sanctions targeting cognac "in the coming days." This agreement would be very welcome for an entire region that has marked these "coming days" in bright red on its calendar.
By July 5th at the latest, China must actually say whether it will perpetuate its idea of taxing around 35% of European brandies, of which cognac represents an overwhelming majority of exports. Announced temporarily from 2024, in response to the taxes imposed by the EU on Chinese electric vehicles , this measure has caused Asian imports of cognac to fall by 60%. The important sector of this famous Charente spirit claims to be losing 50 million euros per month since then.
Then, on July 9, it's Donald Trump's turn to say how he'll treat Europe, with whom he's discussing a trade agreement , to possibly abandon the promised tariff increases. The deadline could be pushed back, the White House announced on June 26. But it's a generalized surcharge of 20% or even 50% that still threatens, in the absence of an agreement. Duties of 100% or even 200% were even discussed in mid-March for certain
Courrier International
