Cognac, Bordeaux and Champagne do not escape the tasks of US customs at the moment. As of August 7, European wines and spirits will be well imposed on customs tasks of 15% at the entrance to the United States, as well as a good part of European exports throughout the Atlantic. Eager to protect a sensitive sector for the old continent, Europeans tried to obtain an exemption for their alcoholic beverages, without success, even if Brussels ensure negotiations to influence the US position.
For France, one of the European champions with Spain and Italy, such a situation is far from reassuring. The Americans embody the first foreign market for French wines and spirits: with 3.8 billion euros, the US market weighed 24.5%of the total value of French exports in 2024, far ahead of the United Kingdom (10.7%) and China (6.1%), according to the latest annual figures of the French federation of wines and spirits (Fev).
Tequila, whiskey and cognac
According to a recent study by the Nielseniq panelist, France is today the second foreign player in Vinos and the third foreign spirits in the United States. During the first four -week period of 2025, French wines weighed 7%of the billing of American wines (effervescent, calm and fortified) in distribution of masses and liquor stores, behind Italy (13%) and ahead of New Zealand (4%). On the side of the French spirits, the latter weighed 7%of the market during the same period, behind Mexico (17%) and Canada (9%).
Within the tricolor funds that cross the Atlantic, the Cognac occupies a substantial place. According to Nielseniq’s study, Cognac only represents two thirds (67%) of the billing achieved by the French spirits in the American soil. Charente Brandy is, therefore, the fourth best -selling foreign spirits in the United States, raising 5%of the billing of the market of American spirits in the perimeter studied by the panelist, behind the Mexican tequila (16%) and the Canadian whistles (8%), tied with the Scottish whiskeys (5%).
Another heavyweight, Champagne is also essential in transatlantic exchanges: the only effervescent Champenois wine represents 43% of the billing of French wines in US stores, according to Nielseni.
“A loss of one billion euros”
Given this increase in customs rates, French exporters do not hide their concerns. In a press release published this Friday morning, the FEVS estimated that the impact of entry into the force of US customs tasks in 15% “will be even more brutal as [ira] He quotes with the decline of the US dollar since the beginning of the year. “
If the US market is compressed for French productions, they can be tempted to see elsewhere. “In the case of Cognac, the French market, 15 times smaller and not very dynamic, will obviously not compensate for strong decreases only,” Nielseniq observes. According to the study, a 77% growth in the French market is necessary to compensate for a 5% drop in billing in the United States.
With respect to the champagne, France “will potentially be more capable of absorbing an impact of the United States,” says Nielseniq, evoking “an internal market much stronger than that of Cognac.” According to the same study, the growth of 4%, much less than +77% of cognac, is necessary in the French market to compensate for a 5% drop in turnover in the United States.
To Mercosur countries?
Beyond our borders, the French could try to convince other important partners to buy more, including the United Kingdom, the first European market for French wines and spirits.
Similarly, for China, where the recent relaxation on the theme of the anti -exempted survey against European brands suggests the hope of alarm cens, particularly for Cognac.
On the horizon, the draft of the commercial agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries could allow French alcohols to win a new market share in Latin America, if it materializes despite the opposition from the Member States, including France, to the current version of the text. French wines and spirits achieved 1,100 million euros in the rotation in Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) in 2024, including 820 million only for Brazil.
Source: BFM TV
