President Trump’s announced “war on Champagne” and French wines with possible tariffs of up to 200% as a result of Paris sending a contingent of military personnel to Greenland does not make Italian sparkling wine producers rejoice at all. Such extemporaneous behaviour and decisions now affect French competitors, but in a moment they can also affect Italy.
This is the substance of the reasoning of Italian producers who just cannot rejoice at the sudden storm that has exploded in a flute of Champagne or a goblet of Bordeaux. Trump’s umpteenth threat resounded immediately after French President Macron’s refusal to join the Peace Board on Gaza, a refusal that had followed the sending of soldiers to Greenland, a decision that had resulted in the threat of additional tariffs of 10% (for a total rate of 25%) for all countries that had sent soldiers and then reloaded with the specific threat against France. The new wave of US tariff retaliation has already produced heavy losses on the European stock exchanges with a sharp drop in the stocks involved such as the French luxury pole Lvmh, holder of brands such as Moët & Chandon, Krug and Veuve Clicquot.
No comment was made by the Comité Champagne, the organisation of the main Maisons of French bubbly. Champagne produced a total of 266 million bottles in 2025, of which slightly more than half (156 million) were sold abroad. The United States was confirmed as the first outlet market absorbing some 27 million bottles per year, followed by the United Kingdom (22 million) and at a greater distance Japan (12 million). Therefore, if Trump’s threat turned into reality, Champagne would be heavily penalised on what is its main outlet market.
An eventuality that, as mentioned, does not make Italian producers, the main competitor of the transalpine vignerons, rejoice. “First of all, we make different products that address completely different markets,’ began the director of the Prosecco Doc Consortium, Luca Giavi. So we do not see this as an opportunity, also because we prefer to compete and win in the market. The comparison between Prosecco and Champagne does not belong to us. The French producers represent a universe that we look at with respect, from which we have learnt a lot on many aspects, and for this reason news of this kind is not cause for satisfaction’.
For the Prosecco Doc consortium, the United States is also the leading market, absorbing more than 120 million bottles of Prosecco per year, and last October and despite tariffs, sales were up 2.1% in volume and 2.3% in value.
Dining and Cooking