Sales Rep Sign-on Letter:
Dear Ambassador Greer:
We write as wine sales representatives working across the United States to express our strong opposition to tariffs on bottled wine and to urge the inclusion of bottled premium wine in Annex A of the proposed Section 301 tariff action.
We are the people who sell wine day in and day out, on the road, in restaurants, and in retail shops, account by account, case by case. We are responsible for 30 percent of domestic winery sales according to Silicon Valley Bank’s seminal annual report. We are the personal representative of each winery we sell. We understand their story and their “why.” Most of our producers are not known to the casual customer. We tell their stories with passion and conviction and make them want to learn more, taste, and buy. We are the workforce that gets American wines placed at restaurants and on retail shelves.
The commission-based sales rep model grew over the last fifty years alongside the growth of American wineries because it creates so much value along the way. Wineries get a sales force without upfront costs, we make a living, and our accounts get a curated product list that sells well.
We cannot sell American wine without a strong portfolio of imported wines. A large percentage of our pay, sometimes up to 60-70 percent, comes from selling imported wines. This is due to both the high demand of many foreign labels but also the much wider variety of wine you can access through imports that you simply cannot get from domestic producers. Wine is a non-fungible global category, and the success of my accounts depends on offering balance, credibility, and variety.
Imported wines provide that foundation. They open doors with buyers, establish benchmarks, and create the context that allows domestic wines to make sense on a shelf or a list. A recognized producer or region gives us a reference point. It allows us to introduce a domestic wine as part of a broader conversation about style, tradition, or place. Without that context, domestic wines are harder to position and sell.
Tariffs have contracted the entire system: fewer sales, fewer placements, and fewer opportunities for American wineries to grow. Buyers and their customers are often looking for specific wines from specific regions at specific price points. When those wines become too expensive or unavailable, they do not reliably switch to domestic alternatives, they frequently stop buying altogether. Price increases on imported wines driven by tariffs have led many accounts to drop wines from by-the-glass lists, end long-standing placements, and shrink entire categories. In many cases, the lost business cannot be replaced at all. accounts’ customers are not looking for substitutes. We can’t make anyone buy wine they don’t want.
Tariffs have cut our sales, pay, and time with our families. With weaker sales, some distributors have gone bankrupt or consolidated, while many have laid off representatives, slowed hiring, narrowed our opportunities for advancement, and expanded sales territories. Nationally, fewer representatives are covering more ground with less time. That means fewer visits to accounts, fewer opportunities to present wines, and fewer placements for American producers.
Imported and domestic wines are interdependent in the marketplace. Our jobs require a strong import portfolio, and when we succeed, we sell more American wine. Right now, tariffs are working against that system.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge the Office of the United States Trade Representative to include the below HTSUS codes in Annex A.
Respectfully,
[NAME]
City, State