Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Today, the United States and the European Union announced a “cooperative framework” to solve the Large Civil Aircraft disputes that are the underlying cause of the tariffs on wine from the EU. In doing so, they have suspended all related tariffs, including the tariffs on wine, for five years.
“After years of bitter litigation and weeks of intense diplomacy, we have reached a deal on a set of high-level principles that resets U.S.-EU engagement in the large civil aircraft industry…” – Ambassador Katherine Tai
While a final resolution to the Airbus / Boeing dispute has not yet been secured, today’s agreement is a strong step towards that end. Further, it establishes parameters for both sides, as well as a joint Working Group, in order to prevent tariffs from coming back.
The longterm suspension of tariffs will give us the certainty our industry demands to plan for the future. It also signals the USTR recognized the ultimate failure of these tariffs as a tool to bring about a resolution to the Large Civil Aircraft dispute.
Over the last 18 months, the USTR received over 45,000 letters demanding an end to the tariffs on wine, and telling the story of the devastation these tariffs cause small businesses all over the country. Numbers so large they had to create a separate website to deal with the volume of feedback from our industry. They also heard from broad, bipartisan swaths of Congress, asking for an end to these tariffs, and telling the USTR the damage these tariffs caused wasn’t worth it.
Your support was critical in these efforts, so please, let me say THANK YOU! I have been so heartened by the way our industry joined forces to face this threat together. Your work, and the work of so many around the country, helped to make this possible.
I have been told time and time again, that more than any other industry, ours made the damaging nature of these tariffs a major issue in Washington. Every letter you wrote, friend or family member you told, made a real difference. It took an abstract issue and made it personal.
You helped bring this to the front burner of the Biden administration, who held meetings on the food and wine tariffs even before being sworn in to office. Within 45 days, the tariffs were paused. And now we have a framework for a tariff-free future.
The USWTA will continue to monitor the discussions, and meet with relevant parties to encourage a final settlement. The majority of our work for the time being will now shift to undoing a major flaw in the initial enactment of these tariffs: the charging of tariffs for goods on the water. We hope to hammer home the final nail in the coffin of the disastrous previous policy, and do what we can to make tariffs on wine more difficult to enact in the future.
We will keep you updated on these efforts soon, but in the mean time – Cheers! I hope you crack open something fun, and celebrate!
Sincerely yours,
Ben Aneff