Trump Threatens 100% Tariffs on French Wine Over Digital Services Tax

Hours before flying to France for the annual G7 summit, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on wine imports from France unless Paris abolishes its 3% tax on technology companies. Trump said he delivered the warning directly to French President Emmanuel Macron and made clear that the levy would apply to “all the champagnes and all the wines” from France if the tax remains in place.

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said, “I asked President Macron not to charge the tax on American companies, but if they do that I will have no choice but to impose a 100% tariff on all the champagnes and all the wines coming from France.” He added, “All he has to do is get rid of this sales tax, and there will be no pressure on him.”

The threat targets France’s digital services tax, approved by the French parliament in 2019, which applies a 3% levy on revenue earned in France by major tech companies including Amazon, Meta, Apple and Alphabet. Because it taxes revenue rather than profit, it falls mainly on American firms. According to the French finance ministry, the tax brought in $700 million last year.

This is not the first time Trump has targeted French wine with tariff threats. In January, he said he would impose 200% tariffs on French wine imports if Macron refused to join the peace council he created. The U.S. accounts for about one-fifth of global sales of France’s wine industry, worth roughly $2 billion a year, though French wine exports to the U.S. fell 15.9% last year to 1.9 billion euros, or $2.2 billion, according to the American Association of Wine Economists. Trump and Macron are scheduled to meet at the opening of the G7 summit in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains, which runs through Wednesday and also includes the leaders of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain.