MAINZ (dpa-AFX) – The winemakers in Germany are relieved that the US punitive tariffs on wine are suspended after the change of government in Washington. The Association of German Prädikatsweingüter (VDP) welcomes the decision. The suspension, limited to July 11, is much too short, says VDP managing director Hilke Nagel. “We hope that the EU and the US will come to a permanent solution by then.” After the introduction of the sanctions in October 2019, top wines in the USA in particular have become more expensive due to the tariff increase.
“We hope that we can now export profitably to the USA again,” says the vintner Florian Lauer in Ayl (Trier-Saarburg district), for whom deliveries to the USA make up around a quarter of his business. In order to maintain trade relations, he took over most of the 25 percent tariff increase himself, depending on the product, around 20 percent. The rest was then borne by the importer and the end users. “We have partly exported at cost price.” What the US was unable to accept due to the corona-related closings of restaurants has been absorbed by the Chinese market.
“The day Joe Biden won, we opened a bottle of champagne,” says Lauer, “both on this side of the Atlantic and on the other.” He never thought that a small family business could come under the influence of US politics so much. / Pz / DP / zb
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