On Tuesday 14 January, organisations from the European Union and the US wine sectors announced that they had signed a “historic” statement on trade and tariffs.
The European Wine Companies Committee (CEEV) and the Wine Institute are the signatories of the text, which recognises the importance of the transatlantic wine trade and calls for the immediate elimination of all tariffs on wine.
CEEV says that the statement calls on the EU and US governments to maintain and strengthen the EU-US wine partnership by “eliminating tariffs completely”, a concept known as 'zero for zero', and refraining from targeting wine in unrelated trade disputes (or 'wine for wine').
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) adopted the 'zero for zero' principle for certain products, leading to increased trade in those products that benefited from a zero tariff.
Jean-Marie Barillère, President of CEEV, said that “a free wine trade environment is essential to preserve the long-standing efforts and investments of our wine companies. We urge the authorities to protect our sector from being caught in the crossfire in trade disputes” that are not related to the sector in question.
“It is time for all governments to eliminate tariffs once and for all”, said Robert P. 'Bobby' Koch, president and CEO of the Wine Institute.
The US and the EU are each other's largest export markets, with total trade reaching $5.33 billion (€4.66 billion) in 2018. Additional signatories to the statement will be announced in the future. The statement can be found at: http://bit.ly/2Nr1y5P (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)