Increasingly closer Usa duties at 25% on European farm products. Trump umpteenth announcement

Usa duties at 25% on European agricultural products seem to be closer. After the general announcement (which targeted mainly cars, but also “all the other”) of a week ago, in the late evening of yesterday, US President Donald Trump, on his social “Truth”, wrote few words, which, however, raised even more the level of alert among European farmers, and not only: “to the great farmers of the Usa: prepare yourselves to produce many agricultural products to be sold inside the Usa. On April, 2nd, tariffs about external products will explode. Have fun”, wrote Trump, explicitly referring, therefore, to agricultural sector. The list of products which will be definitively hit is not known yet, while estimates about the possible damages on a market, the Usa one, are dared, for an Italian wine which is worth almost 2 billion euros of export, a quarter of its total, and for all agri-food sector, which sees in the Usa its extra Eu market with 7.8 billion euros out of 69 of total export (Istat data). And, if Coldiretti talks about 1 billion euros for Italian companies, of which half to the detriment of wine, but with strong impacts also on pasta, oil, and cheese, and 2 billion of extra costs for American consumers, the estimates by Unione Italiana Vini – Uiv about the direct and indirect impact of duties at 25% in the Usa, arrive up to 1 billion euros for the only Italian wine sector with consequences also on other markets in addition to the American one. Confagricoltura, with president Massimiliano Giansanti, talks about a potential damage for agri-food “of 1.5 billion euros only for purchase part, and, then, we should consider also mirroring protectionism measures that Eu will introduce because we also purchase many products of American agriculture, which, then, are used in our supply chain of transformation, and, which, in part, we reexport to the Usa, therefore we risk to pay twice”.
On the contrary,  Cia-Agricoltori Italiani headed by Cristiano Fini raises the voices of agricultural response: “Trump alerts the great farmers of the Usa, We, directly, our Europe. Brussels has to intervene now. The social message of American president, is, now, a hourglass at the last grain. A diplomatic action is needed, as well as an important countermove to contrast the deflagrating effect of Usa duties on all Eu products. With the announcement of duties at 25% on European exports in the Usa, starting from April, 2nd, billionaire damages for Italian food are expected which will affect not only our country - comments Fini – but also the wallets of Americans purchasing our excellence recognizing their quality and uniqueness. Trump farmers can never produce Grana Padano, Prosciutto di Parma, Pecorino romano, Prosecco, Brunello, and all the made in Italy Pdos and Pgis, whose export in the Usa is worth over 2.4 billion, a richness also for Europe. No fun, a decisive and resolute answer is needed”, concludes Fini.
Also the voice of Consorzio Vini Valpolicella, protecting a territory in which wine moves a turnover of over 600 million euros, mostly thanks to export, raises in the world of wine. “The announcement of the Usa administration to apply duties at 25% on all European exports, and, starting from April, 2nd, on agricultural ones – affirms president of the Consortium Christian Marchesini - represents a serious threat for Italian wine sector, and not only, also for Valpolicella, naturally. The Usa are, therefore, our first export market outside the European Union (here, 11% of our product arrives), together with Canada, and this decision risks to compromise a supply chain which is worth about 1.9 billion euros for Italian wine overall. It is a strategic error, not only for American market, which would see a drastic increase in prices, and a possible reduction in the offer of high quality wines. Already in 2019, we lived the effects of similar policies with devastating impacts on our sector. Therefore, we ask to the Italian Government, and to the European Commission to intervene promptly throughout economic diplomacy in order to avoid this decision. In the meantime, it is fundamental to reinforce the dialogue with our commercial partners in the Usa to find solutions that protect a key sector in made in Italy. Valpolicella wine is a synonym of excellence and tradition, and it can’t become victim of a commercial war damaging everyone”.
Therefore, an increasingly tenser framework, but still to be defined completely, that regarding USA-UE front, but with a war of duties assuming increasingly more importance in the world, seen that, today, those imposed by the Usa on many wares from Canada, and Mexico, came into effect, also here, generally at 25% (with Canadian energetic resources hit by duties of 15%), while Trump ordered to double by 10% to 20% those on goods imported by China, with Beijing which announced duties in response to those of the Usa exactly on America agri-food goods, such as poultry, wheat, and corn. A theme, that of duties, on which also the president of the executive board Giorgia Meloni intervened in these hours: “a commercial war is convenient for no one, neither for the Usa”, the prime minister declared to Ansa, according to her, the theme of surplus set by Americans “can be solved in a positive way rather than starting an escalation. A theme, that I will cope with, and partly, I coped with it with Trump, and which Europe will cope and is coping with. I will make all the possible to defend Italy which is an export nation”. But, the tension is at its maximum in a commercial scenario intersecting, obviously, with the different visions of the Usa, and EU about the war between Russia and Ukraine.