US Wine Industry: Businesses Will 'Shatter' Under Tariffs

After Jack Daniel's whiskey maker Brown-Forman tumbled 5% Wednesday in response to a 50% tariff from the European Union, European wine and spirits suffered Thursday following President Trump's threat to apply 200% tariffs. Certificates of US shares in France's Pernod Ricard fell by almost 5%, and by more than 3% for France's Remy Cointreau and Italy's Davide Campari-Milano, per Quartz. French luxury goods company LVMH, owner of the Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, and Hennessy brands, closed 1.1% lower Thursday, reports CNBC.

Trump has claimed US brands will benefit. But "I don't think people realize how much the wine infrastructure relies on European sales," Chris Leon, owner of a Brooklyn wine retailer, tells the New York Times. "If you deplete those funds from the equation ... you're not just hurting European wines, you're hurting the chances of Americans to buy American wines." "You cannot overstate how much restaurants depend on the revenues generated from these products," adds Ben Aneff, president of the US Wine Trade Alliance. "These tariffs, if they are enacted, would absolutely shatter beloved businesses in every city in America." (More tariffs stories.)