From April 3, 2025, 20% tariffs on all EU goods: the announcement of US president, Donald Trump

New “reciprocal” tariffs, at 20% on all European goods, and thus, it seems, also on wine, spirits-which will suffer major damage but at least will not have 200% duties as threatened in recent days-and agri-food products, compared with an average tariff rate of 39% by Europe on American goods, and generally tariffs of half, for so many countries around the world, from China to Japan, India to Switzerland, and beyond, compared to what other countries, according to U.S. government calculations, impose on U.S.-made goods. And 25% on all cars made outside the States. This is how the “reciprocal” tariffs announced by Trump, contained in the Executive Order signed by the US president, will work from midnight Washington DC, 6 a.m. Italian time. So said Trump himself, in the press conference from the White House’s “Rose Garden”, reiterating several times that these are “reciprocal duties.” In particular, looking at the other wine-producing countries, competitors of the European ones, Italy and France in the lead, which then move substantially from 0 to 20% duties, we can see how a reciprocal duty on the US side, often “1 to 1,” of 10% (the minimum threshold decided by Trump), is expected on goods from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
“Dear Americans, it is the day of liberation we have been waiting for so long, on April 2, 2025, we will take back our destiny and make America a rich country again. We have been plundered, looted, your businesses have been plundered, they have stolen the American dream.
In a few minutes”, Trump said, “I will sign an executive order with reciprocal tariffs to various countries around the world. It is a historic day, a declaration of economic independence. So many countries have grown rich at our expense, now it is time for us to prosper, we will become more powerful than ever before. Factories will come back, production will come back, we will have lower prices for American consumers. There are so many non-monetary barriers that have hurt our industry, those who have stolen our intellectual property. They’ve been talking about these tariffs for years, you find them in the “Foreing trade barriers” report we wanted, an important work, you’ll be able to understand what others have been doing to us for the last 30 years. We never fought back, but that’s in the past. De midnight we will impose 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars. There will be a great industrial awakening, but we will also support our ranches, our agriculture.
“We are here to protect the interests of working men and women Americans, to once again say “America First”, said Trump, among other things, who then reiterated, “starting tomorrow the U.S. will have reciprocal tariffs with other nations. We’ve been thinking about this for years, but we've never done it until now, and we see where we’re at. We have always been too kind. We will impose duties of half of what others charge us. China charges us 67%, we put 34%, the EU charges us 39%, our friends in the EU, who have stolen so much money from us, we will charge them 20%. the UK charges us 10%, and we will impose 10%. Those who want zero tariffs, they can invest here, and come and produce in America”, Trump said, waving a board with the percentages of reciprocal tariffs, before an audience of journalists and representatives of the “working class”, particularly the metal sector. Reiterating that under “this system so many companies in technology, industry and beyond have already planned $6 trillion in investment, change is already underway”.
Among the first reactions from the Italian and European wine and agribusiness world comes that of Ceev, which represents EU wine companies (of which Federvini and Unione Italiana Vini - Uiv are members for Italy): “The reciprocal tariffs announced on EU wines will severely damage European wine companies and create economic uncertainty, resulting in layoffs, deferred investments and price increases. Targeting EU wine will only lead to losers on both sides of the Atlantic”, said Marzia Varvaglione, president Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins. “The U.S. wine market,” she added, ”is crucial for the economic sustainability of the EU wine sector. There is no alternative wine market that can compensate for the loss of the U.S. Market”.
The EU and U.S. wine sectors, Ceev recalls, have maintained close cooperation for years and strongly support free and fair trade and open markets for wine. Our wine trade relationship is the largest in the world and a key driver of wine export growth for both the EU and the United States. This collaboration between the U.S. and European wine sectors took shape in 2020 with the signing of a joint statement - the EU-U.S. Declaration of Principles on Trade in Wine - which emphasizes the importance of free and fair trade in the wine industry. For Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Ceev secretary general, “the imposition of reciprocal duties on transatlantic wine trade seems unjustified, considering the minimal difference between EU and U.S. duties on wine products. Together with our U.S. colleagues, we have consistently opposed the imposition of tariffs on wine around the world and have consistently called for the removal of duties applied in our markets. We call on the EU and the U.S. to renew their efforts to find a negotiated solution to prevent the application of tariffs on wine products. This solution could take the form of a Wine Fair and a Reciprocal Trade Agreement”. Reaction in line with that of Ceev, that of Federvini, led by Micaela Pallini (and Albiera Antinori for the Wine Group): “Federvini expresses deep regret and strong concern following the decision taken by the U.S. Administration to apply duties on products imported from the European Union. A decision that represents a serious step backward in the principles of international free trade and will severely damage transatlantic interchange, with particularly damaging effects on the competitiveness of companies in the agri-food sector. The Italian wines, spirits and vinegars sector alone is worth more than 2 billion euros in exports to the United States and involves 40,000 companies and more than 450,000 workers along the entire supply chain. The measure will also have major impacts on overseas consumers and traders: there are thousands of U.S. company employees involved in the import and distribution of these products, and the price increase will not be limited to the duties imposed, but will extend to the entire trade chain”.
“The decision to apply duties to European exports to the United States is a very serious damage to our industry and a direct attack on the free market. We have already been there, and we know what it can cost: in the past these measures have led us to lose up to 50 percent of our exports to the US. Now we risk reliving that economic trauma, with very heavy repercussions on the entire supply chain, from production to distribution to the end consumer. We need now more than ever unity and determination from our institutions to contain the devastating effects of these unnecessarily protectionist and anti-historical measures”, said Federvini President Micaela Pallini. According to Federvini, many labels, which cannot be replaced by local production, will disappear from the tables of U.S. consumers, while a serious production and employment crisis looms in Italy and Europe. “Federvini, in full agreement with the international representative associations of the wine and spirits sector, which have long been jointly active in calling for a diplomatic resolution that is fair and respectful of international trade rules, renews its appeal to European and national institutions to urgently commit themselves to reopen the transatlantic dialogue and work toward a negotiated solution, capable of averting such a critical scenario”, a note concludes.
Less catastrophic in tone is the reaction of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium: “We now learn from the media that the U.S. has introduced additional tariffs of 20%. This is a fixed tariff on all imports that also affects our product. The duties on our product therefore increase from 15% to 35%”, the Consortium explains, considering the new additional U.S. duties, therefore, on already existing tariffs. “Certainly the news does not make us happy”, commented Consortium President Nicola Bertinelli, “but Parmigiano Reggiano is a premium product and the price increase does not automatically lead to a reduction in consumption. We will work to try through the negotiation route to make it clear why it does not make sense to apply duties to a product like ours that is not in real competition with American Parmesans. We will roll up our sleeves to sustain demand in what is our first foreign market and now accounts for 22.5% of the total export share. Parmigiano Reggiano covers 7% of the star-studded hard cheese market and is sold at more than double the price of local Parmesans. We are not competing with local cheeses at all: these are different products that have different positioning, production standards, quality and costs: it is therefore absurd to target a niche product like Parmigiano Reggiano to protect the American economy. In 2019, when Trump introduced additional tariffs of 25 percent, Parmigiano Reggiano was the most affected product with a shelf price increase of $40 to $45 per kilo. Fortunately, the tariffs were then suspended on March 6, 2021, and did not create any problems for us in terms of sales. Americans continued to choose us even when the price increased. In the United States, people who buy Parmesan cheese are making a conscious choice: in fact, they have a 93% market share of alternatives that cost 2-3 times less. Imposing duties on a product like ours only increases the price for American consumers, without really protecting local producers. It is a choice that harms everyone. Today, the real enemy of dairy farmers is not their foreign counterparts, but products that are called “milk” or “cheese” despite having no connection to land and animals, such as cell-fermented foods”. From the markets, meanwhile, after Trump’s announcement (with stock exchanges closed), the dollar marks a sharp fall against the euro: euro quotations against the dollar, reports Ansa, are traveling at over $1.09 from $1.0840 before Trump’s announcement and against $1.0793 yesterday. U.S. government bonds are falling, resulting in yields rising, which for the 10-year treasury are traveling at session highs at 4.231%. Of a different tenor is Coldiretti’s comment, “the 20% duty on all made-in-Italy agri-food products will lead to a 1.6 billion price hike for American consumers, with a drop in sales that will damage Italian companies, in addition to increasing the phenomenon of Italian sounding. To the drop in sales must then be added the damage in terms of depreciation of production, to be calculated chain by chain, linked to the oversupply with no outlets in other markets. It is now necessary to work on a diplomatic solution to be brought forward at the European level”, Coldiretti concludes.
In short, pending further details, to see the texts of Trump’s measure, and tomorrow’s reactions from the EU, national governments, and markets, what is coming, now officially, is a real worldwide economic shock, the direct and indirect magnitude of which is hard to imagine. Suffice it to say that on the axis alone, between America and Europe, affecting the world, given that, in 2023, 1.6 trillion euros in goods and services moved on this route, accounting for 30% of world trade, according to data from the European Council. A fundamental route, also for the made in Italy agribusiness, which, in the States, has its first non-EU partner, with 7.8 billion euros of exports in 2024 (out of 69 billion total), with a growth of 17% on 2023, and wine in particular, which sees in the States its first foreign market, with 1.9 billion euros out of 8.1 total, and which with shipments already stopped for weeks by the U.S. trade, is already suffering a considerable damage, quantified the 6 million euros per day, by Coldiretti.