Official comment: Opposing the proposed tariffs on EU wines

Last month I described on this website why I think the proposed 100 percent tariffs on wines from the EU would be a bad idea. You can read that post here.

Earlier this week I submitted my comment (see below) to United States Trade Representative Robert Lightihizer expressing the same sentiment. Comments are open until January 13. You can submit at this link: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=USTR-2019-0003-2518

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To: United States Trade Representative Robert Lightihizer

From: James Suckling, CEO

I am writing as an American business owner, with nearly forty years of experience as a journalist and wine critic, to express strong opposition to the proposed 100% tariffs on wines from EU countries.

My company operates a preeminent digital platform in the forefront of 21st century wine journalism, reviewing and reporting on over 25,000 U.S. and international fine wines yearly. We also sponsor a heavy schedule of tastings across the U.S. and the world that connect consumers, distributors, wine experts, and other trade representatives with top American and international producers.

This work, and several decades of prior experience as senior editor of Wine Spectator, a U.S.-based magazine, leaves me particularly focused on the intricate web of business and personal relationships that underlie the international wine trade. That commerce contributes, by some estimates, approximately $30 billion to the U.S. economy alone, although I suspect the real impact is significantly greater. In human terms, that means livelihoods for a huge number of Americans.

As important, that commerce sustains vast linkages of culture, values, and partnership that contribute, in their way, to a climate of cooperation and trust that has strategic value for our country. Those linkages, and billions of dollars of benefits that directly accrue American workers and businesses, are jeopardized by the proposed tariffs, which would devastate the transatlantic wine trade to the detriment of all.

I understand the U.S. administration’s position that it has legitimate trade grievances with the European Union, notably concerning aircraft subsidies and French digital service taxes. The equities involved in these disputes, in two massive industries, are important. They can be pursued appropriately through many forms of legal and economic redress directly related to these giant sectors.

Wine tariffs won’t provide significant leverage in these huge trade disputes. However, the administration’s proposed massive new taxes on the American consumer will hurt many Americans: workers, their families, businesses—and their partners and counterparts in Europe. They will also sharply curtail Americans’ freedom of choice.

I respectfully urge that your office recommend against implementation of tariffs that will have devastating impacts on scores of thousands of people in favor of more effective sector-focused measures to address ongoing industrial and tech trade disputes.