France condemns US plan to hit alcoholic beverages with 200% tariffs

France has strongly condemned the United States’ announced plan to impose 200% tariffs on French wines and champagnes, describing the move as an “unacceptable threat” and a form of economic coercion.

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said she was “shocked” by the announcement and insisted that both France and Europe “cannot remain without a response,” Caliber.Az reports via French media. 

She accused US President Donald Trump of targeting a “specific sector, namely viticulture, a flagship of French agriculture,” and criticised the use of trade measures for political purposes.

Genevard’s remarks followed a statement from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on January 19, rejecting an invitation to participate in Trump’s so-called “Peace Council,” a proposed alternative to the UN. The refusal reportedly angered Trump, who has repeatedly suggested that European nations would be unable to resist his initiatives, including his interest in Greenland.

The minister also stressed that the transatlantic trade agreement agreed last summer between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump “has not yet been ratified,” and warned that the United States also had much to lose in the dispute.

She highlighted that the EU and US were negotiating reductions in tariffs on €93 billion of exported goods and pointed to potential European anti-coercion measures that could carry even greater consequences.

“This is clearly a hostile declaration towards France and French viticulture,” Genevard said. “The threat aims to pressure Europeans because France refused the Peace Council invitation. It is shocking, both in the scale of the threat, which jeopardises our wine and champagne exports, and in the use of coercion by Trump. It is somewhat extravagant.”

She concluded by calling on European nations to “take their responsibilities” in responding to the threat.

By Aghakazim Guliyev