U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on French wine and champagne unless France removes its digital services tax on major American technology companies.
Speaking in an interview with the New York Post, Trump said he had delivered the warning directly to French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of this week's Group of Seven (G7) summit in the French resort town of Évian-les-Bains.
"I asked him not to charge American companies, and if they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100% tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France," Trump said.
"All (Macron) has to do is get rid of the sales tax, and he wouldn't have that kind of pressure."
Neither the White House nor the Élysée Palace immediately commented on Trump's remarks.
The dispute centres on France's digital services tax, introduced in 2019. The measure applies a 3% levy on revenue generated in France by large digital companies with annual revenues exceeding €25 million in France and €750 million globally.
Washington has long opposed such taxes, arguing that they disproportionately affect major U.S. technology companies.
According to reports in The New York Times, the issue has resurfaced as part of broader trade discussions ahead of the G7 summit, with Trump signalling he is prepared to use tariffs to pressure allies over policies he views as unfair to American businesses.
The latest threat has alarmed France's wine and spirits industry, which depends heavily on exports to the United States.
Industry representatives said producers risk becoming collateral damage in a dispute over digital taxation that is beyond their control and called for balanced trade relations to be preserved.
Alcohol is among the European Union's most valuable exports to the U.S. market, worth around €9 billion in 2024, according to Eurostat data. Products such as champagne and cognac are particularly vulnerable because they can only be produced in designated French regions.
Trump's remarks come as he heads to Évian-les-Bains for the G7 summit, where leaders are expected to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, economic challenges and global trade.
The meeting is especially significant for Macron, who is hosting what is likely to be his final G7 summit before the end of his second presidential term next year.
The tariff threat also risks overshadowing efforts to improve transatlantic trade ties. Wines and spirits imported from the European Union currently face a 15% U.S. tariff following a trade agreement reached last year between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
French officials and industry groups have been lobbying for those duties to be removed, but Trump's latest warning suggests trade tensions between Washington and Paris remain far from settled.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Ministe...
Five years ago today, Taliban fighters entered Kabul, completing a rapid takeover of Afghanistan as the former government collapsed....
For fishermen along Pakistan’s southwestern coast, the consequences of the U.S.-Iran conflict are being felt far from the battlefield....
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled or rerouted at Catania Airport over the past week as ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing eruption continues to disrupt air travel in Sicily.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to make the Strait of Hormuz part of U.S. territory have been mocked by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, who said the sea passage "cannot be seized by tweet."
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised deepening ties with North Korea, saying Moscow and Pyongyang are coordinating their efforts to ensure “regional security and stability”.
Russia and Ukraine traded large-scale overnight attacks targeting energy, industrial and military facilities on Saturday, with a three-month-old baby killed and 11 people injured in a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, triggering small tsunami waves and dozens of aftershocks, officials say.
Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row, has been found dead. He was appointed Cambridge's youngest ever Black professor in 2023, but quit on 5 August, after being accused of lifting passages from his PhD from the work of other academics.
Wildfires across England and Wales have reached their highest level on record, according to the National Fire Chiefs Council, as firefighters struggle to contain outbreaks following a spell of extreme heat.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment