Trump Threatens 100% Tariff on French Wine as Macron Rejects Pressure

President Donald Trump has escalated his trade confrontation with France, saying he may impose a 100% tariff on all French wines and champagnes unless Paris immediately scraps its 3% digital tax on major U.S. tech companies. In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said Washington would have “no choice” but to act if France does not remove the levy.

The threat is the latest in a series of tariff warnings from Trump. He has previously threatened, in January this year and in March last year, to impose a 200% tariff on alcohol imports from France and the European Union as transatlantic trade tensions have risen.

French President Emmanuel Macron took a defiant line ahead of his scheduled meeting with Trump at the G7 summit, which Macron is hosting near Lake Geneva as part of the final stretch of his second and last term. In an interview with TF1, Macron said trade wars help no one, especially not G7 members, and when asked if he would back down, replied, “No, because the system simply does not work that way.”

France’s digital tax has been in place since 2019 and applies to digital service revenues from companies making more than 25 million euros in France and 750 million euros worldwide. The French wine and spirits sector, heavily dependent on exports, says it has been dragged into a political fight it cannot control. The French wine and spirits exporters group, FEVS, urged “responsible behavior” and balanced, constructive trade ties. The industry fears the new threat could undermine recent efforts to remove or reduce the existing 15% EU tariff on wine and alcohol exports to the United States, a trade worth about 9 billion euros in 2024, according to Eurostat.