Sawt Falasteen - French wine industry warns of 'brutal' impact from US tariffs

Brussels and Washington struck a trade deal at the weekend which will see most EU exports including France's cherished wines and spirits face a 15-percent US levy.

"The impact of this duty will be all the more brutal as it goes hand in hand with the decline of the US dollar in the United States," Gabriel Picard, president of the French wine and spirits exporters' federation FEVS, said in a statement.

He estimated that the combined effect "could lead to a 25 percent reduction" in wine and spirits sales in the United States, representing a loss of one billion euros.

A drop in exports would also affect 600,000 jobs in the wine and spirits industry in France, the statement said.

"Negotiations must continue," Picard said. "The situation cannot remain as it is."

Jean-Marie Fabre, president of the union of independent winegrowers of France, urged France to continue negotiations.

"We hope to be granted an exemption," he told broadcaster RMC.

The tariffs could reduce consumption of French champagne in the United States, warned Maxime Toubart, the co-president of the Interprofessional Champagne Wines Committee (CIVC). This would impact employment both in the United States and in France, he added.

The EU said Thursday it expected its wine sector to be hit along with most European products, but negotiations were ongoing to secure a carve-out.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday that France wanted to obtain "guarantees" for its wines and spirits.

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST