Trump Threatens 100% Tariff on French Wine and Champagne, Macron Resists

Hours before taking off for France to attend a summit with other world leaders, United States President Donald Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on French wine and Champagne. The levy would come in retaliation for the French government’s 3 percent tax on services from American tech companies.

Trump announced the ultimatum today in an interview with the New York Post. Unless French President Emmanuel Macron ditches the sales tax on American tech, Trump claims he would have “no choice” but to impose the 100 percent tariff on all French Champagne and wine. “I asked him not to charge American companies…” Trump says. “All he has to do is get rid of the sales tax, and he wouldn’t have that kind of pressure.”

Macron says he won’t budge, Reuters reports. Paris’ GAFAM tax — short for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft — has been around since 2019 and applies to digital services performed by companies that earn more than €25 million in France (~$29 million) and €750 million worldwide (~$870 million).

The tension comes as the world watches how Trump will address the war in Iran at the G7 summit. Macron is hosting the event, which begins today and is scheduled to end on June 17.

All French goods sent to the U.S. currently face a 15 percent tax, and business owners in the country have been lobbying to scrap the tariff since Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen decided upon the trade agreement last summer.

Trump’s latest warning is yet another incident in his year-plus back-and-forth stance on tariffs. Last March, the president intimated at a 200 percent levy on Champagne, wine, and spirits from the European Union. In January of this year, he threatened the same tax a second time after Macron refused to join his Board of Peace. Macron never joined the initiative, and Trump never instituted the tariff.

Trump arrived at Évian-les-Bains, the location for the G7 meeting, roughly an hour prior to the time of publication. The summit will focus on ending the U.S.-Iran conflict. Whether or not Macron and Trump will address the recent tariff dispute remains a question.

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