Trump Threatens 200% Tariff on French Wine

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a massive 200 percent tariff on French wine and champagne in an attempt to pressure French President Emmanuel Macron into joining a proposed initiative called the “Board of Peace,” according to a report by Reuters.
Trump said the punitive tariffs would be used as leverage to encourage Macron to take part in the initiative. Speaking about reports that the French president was unwilling to join, Trump remarked, “Did he really say that? Anyway, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of power very soon.” He added, “I will impose a 200 percent tariff on his wine and champagne. Then he will be forced to join. And even if he doesn’t, I have no problem with that.”
Sources close to Macron said the French president intends to reject the invitation to join the proposed board. A senior aide at the Élysée Palace confirmed that France had taken note of Trump’s comments and made it clear that using tariff threats to influence the foreign policy of a third country is unacceptable.
French wine and spirits exporters have already been hit by existing trade measures. Gabriel Picard, chairman of the French wine and spirits exporters’ association (FEVS), told Reuters that due to earlier trade arrangements, their business in the US market suffered losses of between 20 and 25 percent in the second half of last year.
The United States is the largest market for French wine and spirits. In 2024, France exported approximately €3.8 billion worth of wine and spirits to the US.
Currently, a 15 percent tariff is imposed on wine and spirits exported from the European Union to the United States. Following a trade agreement reached last summer in Scotland between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, France has been pushing strongly for the tariff to be reduced to zero.
The latest threat has raised fresh concerns about escalating trade tensions between Washington and Paris, with French exporters warning that any further increase in tariffs could severely damage the industry’s access to its most important foreign market.