Several orders have been suspended or canceled awaiting clarification on tariff matters, stated António Filipe, addressng these concerns among companies associated with the AEVP.
This situation arose after President Donald Trump threatened in mid-March to impose a 200% tariff on beverages from the European Union, including wine.
“To avoid shipments getting caught in transit and unexpectedly having to pay undeclared charges upon entry [into the United States], several orders are awaiting clarification,” António Filipe remarked.
President Donald Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on imports, which include a 25% tariff on all foreign automobiles. According to the announced tariff schedule, EU countries will now pay 20% in tariffs.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that the newly announced U.S. tariffs are a “severe blow” to the global economy.
António Filipe highlighted that the new tariffs “significantly impact” the wine industry, expressing concern over the ongoing assessment of their effect on consumers, estimating the impact to be “greater than 20%.”
In his opinion, these new tariffs could lead to a short-term decline in consumption due to the increased price, potentially having a “structural effect” resulting in the “abandonment of consumers.”
“The American market is the largest wine market globally and has substantial purchasing power. There’s no alternative market that can replace it,” he asserted.
The U.S. market ranks among the “top five” export markets for wines produced in the Douro Demarcated Region, both in quantity and value.
In 2024, approximately 36 million euros worth of Port wine were exported to the U.S., marking a 6.5% increase over the previous year.
As for wines with Controlled Designation of Origin (DOC) from the Douro, the American market represented a business volume of approximately 5.6 million euros.
The executive mentioned that naturally, “efforts will be made to seek compensation in other markets.”
“However, it’s unrealistic to believe that within a year, we will be fully operating in other markets that can completely replace what we lost in the U.S. I believe that above all, there needs to be common sense on both sides to avoid such escalations,” he emphasized.
António Filipe noted that “at the root of that absurd 200% tariff was retaliation against Europe for proposing a 50% tax on American bourbon.”
“It’s also vital that Europe doesn’t participate in this escalation process and instead pursues a de-escalation path. I believe the process should lean more toward de-escalating than accepting it as reality and seeking non-existent markets,” he stressed.
The European Committee of Wine Companies (CEEV) also labeled the 20% tariff on EU exports to the U.S., as announced by President Donald Trump, as a “severe blow,” predicting job losses and investment delays.
The wine industry association clarified that this “severe blow” results from EU exports to the U.S. accounting for 28% of the total value of EU wine exports in 2024, a year when the U.S. remained the largest market for European wines, valued at 4.88 billion euros.
