A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is calling for an end to tariffs on foods and wines from the European Union.
Seven Republican and six Democratic senators signed a letter dated Aug. 7 to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, calling for an end to the tariffs, which were imposed last fall. The affected products include olives, wine, pork sausage, cheese, spirits and more.
The tariffs were imposed as part of an ongoing trade dispute over government subsidies to aircraft manufacturers. The U.S. got permission last year from the World Trade Organization to impose the tariffs to retaliate over EU subsidies to France’s Airbus; the WTO is expected to give the EU similar permission to retaliate against U.S. products over subsidies to Boeing.
According to the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council, mutual tariffs have cut down whiskey exports 33% going both ways across the Atlantic – Scotch whisky to America, and American whiskey to the EU.
In their letter, the senators stated that “demand for these goods has declined, leaving importers and distributors with months’ worth of product, much of it perishable, in storage and in transit with no clear end date for the COVID-19 pandemic.”
