Sancerre and Burgundy online in sight

A big sun bathes the banks of the Loire that the swallows colonize to finish their spring migration. Overlooking the most wild meanders of the French river in France, nestled on a hill in the heart of Berry, the citadel of Sancerre (Cher) comes alive with the arrival of sunny days. Tourists and premises stroll on the terrace, a Covignol growing and a glass of dry white to delight their taste buds.

This year, the Sancerrois vintage promises to be radiant. But if mildew, vine diseases and weather save the winemakers, a shadow from across the Atlantic plunges the vineyard into uncertainty. The blackmail of customs duties on all European products exercised by Donald Trump floats like a sword of Damocles. Even if he suspended his trade war with the world (except China), in Sancerre, we are worried: 30 % of the bottles produced each year are exported to the United States.

A geopolitical issue

In the village of Sainte-Gemme-en-Sancerrois, north of the appellation, the first buds point to their nose. At the Domaine de Rome, Hervé Baudry and his two sons are working on the labeling of the 2024 vintage. Faced with the bottles that parade on the treadmill, the winemaker refuses all fatalism but expresses a certain weariness. “The world of wine has become geopolitical, we are the first fuse to jump as soon as France and the European Union are involved in a commercial showdown. »»

The father has already experienced the effects of the first 25 % taxes imposed in 2019 by Donald Trump, during his first mandate. Faced with an increase in customs duties, two options were offered to winegrowers: passing the tax on the price of their bottle, therefore on American consumers, at the risk that they buy less; Or cut on their margin and, ultimately, earn less money. If the experience had lasted less than a year, the impact on the turnover of many vineyards had been substantial.

Negotiation time

In 2024, the United States represented for France the first export market for wines and spirits (2.3 billion euros for one and 1.5 billion euros for the other)*. The sector Federation fears “a decline in exports of around 800 million euros” and “an enormous impact on employment and the economy of the sector”.

Between the walls of the Interprofessional Bureau of Center-Loire wines, we refuse any plan on the comet: the time is for negotiations. “We face an unpredictable man. From a threat of 200 % taxation on our wines, we went to an announcement of 20 %, and now a 10 % floor on all European products, “says François Boutet, the director. The appellation attracts a lot to the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada or the Netherlands, he adds. So many promising markets to develop to limit its dependence on the United States.

Donald Trump’s protectionist shock wave shakes all regions whose wealth is based on the international influence of their terroir. In Burgundy as in New Aquitaine, the French coopers hold their breath: 31 % of their turnover has been achieved across the Atlantic in 2024. So far exempt from customs duties, the sector fears the effects of a tax, was it reduced to 10 %. Installed on the southern shore of the Charente, in Merpins, the cooperty Seguin Moreau has been refining since 1838 the know -how of the drying and heating of the French oak – a wood whose organoleptic properties (which affects the organs of the senses) are unique in the world.

“We are in the sales period for next harvest in Oregon or California. Some barrels are being transported and we do not know if they will be taxed or not; The uncertainty is deleterious for business, ”deplores Magdeleine Allaume, Director General of the Company and President of the Federation of Tunnels in France. A craft sector with high added value which employs around 2,000 people in France.

Non -relocatable products

“Customs duties are not good for anyone …” she repeats, evoking the position of the federation of spirits in the United States. “Even our American counterparts argue for the abandonment of these insane taxes. Our products are intimately linked to a terroir, they cannot relocate to create jobs in the United States, as Donald Trump would like. »»

Same thing for cheeses, also on the front line of this trade war. Those with a protected designation of origin, such as the county of the Jura or the Emmental of Savoy – increasingly prized by Americans – are by definition impossible to produce elsewhere. “Common sense”, as the American president likes to repeat.

* Source: customs/fevs. The figures of the volumes of spirits are temporary.