wine war

Trump Now Mad About Wine Prices or Something

Drama! Photo: Shutterstock

Donald Trump went on a Twitter tirade this morning, targeting French president Emmanuel Macron. In it, he turned to one of his favorite topics: trade wars. Admitting that the French make “excellent wine,” our President — a famous teetotaler — complained about the imbalance between tariffs on American wines in France and American tariffs on French wines. “France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs,” Trump wrote. As you might guess, the imbalance is, in fact, minimal: The European Union adds $0.11 to $0.29 to each bottle of American wine. The American government adds $0.05 to $0.14 cents to European bottles. (Also, keep in mind that something called Trump Winery exists in Virginia.)

In any event, any hint that the Trump administration might start messing with wine prices resonated with a number of industry watchers:

Trump Now Mad About Wine Prices or Something