Usa duties costed 61 million euros to Italian wine, and 600 to agrifood overall

If, in the U.S of Trump duties, things, for Italian wine, up to today, functioned, according to Istat data (988.4 million euros in value the export from Italy to the U.S., growing by +5.2% in the first semester of 2025 compared to 2024, and up +1.1% in volume, at 179.9 million liters), this doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues. Because duties still weigh heavily on European and Italian wine, and for now, “the cost is largely being borne by businesses, if it is true that, in July, Italian wine arrived in the U.S. at a reduced average price (-13.5%) to remain competitive despite being hit by tariffs”. This is according to Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) Observatory, which analyzed the latest data from U.S. customs imports. According to them, the average listed price of Italian wines dropped from 6.52 dollars per liter in July 2024 to 5.64 dollars in the same period this year, despite a depreciation of the U.S. dollar that should, in theory, encourage Americans to spend more when buying in euros”, explains Uiv.
According to the Observatory, since the new tariffs were introduced at the end of July, Italian wines have been subject to additional duties totaling 61 million dollars, about one-third of the total import duties on foreign products. It’s a kind of handicap ranking, with France slightly ahead (62.5 million dollars), followed by Italy, and Spain trailing far behind.
“We must highlight the significant sacrifice in profit margins that our companies are making to cope with U.S. tariffs - said president of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) Lamberto Frescobaldi - wine is leaving the cellars at lower prices, which shows that many companies are fully absorbing the cost of the tariffs to remain competitive”. But there is more: according to Uiv, paradoxically, unjustified price increases are being observed at retail points across the U.S. “We have found our that the products on the shelves are part of pre-tariff stocks accumulated in the early months of the year - added Uiv president - it’s disappointing to see price hikes that have no real justification. These are speculative moves by someone that don’t help our companies, nor our U.S. trade partners, who also oppose the tariffs”. In light of these challenges, Uiv suggests launching a special promotional campaign starting in 2026, focused on the American marketplace. This initiative would be a public-private effort, emphasizing the uniqueness of Italian wine culture, and should also target promising markets such as the UK, Canada, and Brazil.
But it is not just wine that is paying the price in the U.S.: according to an analysis by the research office of Cia-Agricoltori Italiani, the Italian agri-food sector as a whole has already lost 600 million euros between January and July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. “Made in Italy agri-food shipments have declined for the second consecutive month: in July, there was a 10% drop compared to July 2024. These figures confirm the slowdown in sales of Italian agricultural and food products in the U.S. following the announcement of tariffs by the Trump administration”, explains Cia, highlighting how this marks “an unfortunate shift from the long-standing trend of growth in Italian food exports to the U.S. Monthly growth began to slow in April (only +1%), continued in May with 0.4%, turned negative in June (-3%), and reached -10% in July. This negative trend has impacted cumulative growth for the January–July 2025 period”. Cia notes that in the first seven months of the year, export growth was just 3%, compared to a 19% increase during the same period in 2024. “In absolute terms, the annual growth of Italian products in the U.S. market lost about 600 million euros in the January-July 2025 period, compared to the figures reported by Istat in 2024”. Still, explains Cia, regarding the trade balance, comparing July 2025 surplus with July 2024, “Istat confirms the modest recovery seen in June. The trade surplus in July grew by only 3% year-on-year. This recovery is solely due to a sharper decline in imports than that characterized by foreign sales. However, the annual growth of the trade surplus (+3%) is far below the 28% increase recorded in the month July 2024”.