The media predicted the collapse of winemaking in Europe due to Trump's duties

The 200% duties that US President Donald Trump is threatening to impose on European wine could completely destroy this industry in the region. This was reported by Bloomberg on March 28.

"When President Donald Trump announced his threat to impose duties of 200% on European wine, producers were already struggling with a long-term decline in consumption, so severe that France began paying farmers to uproot vines," the article says.

According to the agency, the vaults of the largest wine production companies are still filled with last year's products, while a new grape harvest is coming soon. There are so many excess products that some of the wine may have to be distilled into hand sanitizer.

"Our next harvest is on the way, and our vats are still full," said Philippe Julien, president of the cooperative of winemakers in the south of France.

According to him, the vats should start emptying no later than July, but "now that the buyers have enough wine, they say to wait."

According to Bloomberg, Trump's penalties are paralyzing the ailing industry. Wine producers are at a loss, not knowing how negatively the new duties will actually affect them and how much their costs will increase. If there is no room for new wine in their tanks, they will have to incur huge costs for transporting and storing some of the old wine elsewhere.

"The trade turmoil comes amid a global wine glut, despite production falling to a 60-year low in 2024, with demand falling even faster," writes Bloomberg.

In October, France received 120 million euros from the European Union (EU) to compensate farmers for the destruction of vineyards. Fearing the outbreak of a trade war after Trump's victory in the presidential election, many manufacturers across Europe rushed to ship as many products as possible to the United States.

Earlier, on March 13, Trump said that if the European Union does not lift duties on whiskey, the United States will impose 200 percent duties on alcoholic beverages coming from France and other EU countries.