The U.S. Wine Trade Alliance (USWTA) appeared in Washington before the Office of the United States Trade Representative, arguing that tariffs on European wine would harm American businesses, workers and wineries rather than protect them.
As reported by WineNews and WineMag, USWTA president Ben Aneff and other industry representatives testified as part of a Section 301 investigation into trade measures, stressing that imported wine and American wine are not competitors but parts of the same economic ecosystem. The alliance pointed out that imported wine accounts for 60–70% of the business in the U.S. market, meaning tariffs would directly impact a large share of the distribution network and hospitality sector.
USWTA’s intervention has gathered support from WineAmerica and the Wine Institute, with these trade bodies also requesting wine be excluded from potential tariff increases. The core message is simple: additional duties on European bottles would ripple back through US wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and domestic producers, undermining a market already dealing with declining consumption and shifting distribution channels.
Sources: WineNews; WineMag.it.
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