While waiting for details, many uncertainties

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The United States and Europe have come closer, but the agreement is not entirely finalized. So what are the uncertainties? Customs duties on wine(New window) are still pending. France hopes for an exemption, but the negotiations are complicated. Claude Mandois, producer of Champagne, exports 500,000 bottles per year across the Atlantic. Faced with doubt, orders are stopped net. “It is a palette that we had prepared a fortnight ago. It was urgent. It was canceled“He said.

The United States represents 27% of French exports of wine and spirits. First threatened with a 30%tax, the producer still hopes for an exemption today. Do without the United States? “This is a good question. We are already doing without the Russians. The 30% has scared us. Now, uncertainty is even worse”, admitted Claude Mandois.

Highly criticized in France, is the agreement unbalanced? On the one hand, the United States will tax most European products at 15%. However, in the other direction, Europe will open its doors widely, without tax on the majority of American goods. Any harm according to economists to avoid a trade war. “”For France, it will represent something on average, between 2 and 3% less export. So obviously, there are sectors that will be more affected than others, but 2 to 3%, it is something that can be completely absorbable“Explains Lionel Fontagné, director of the Institute of Macroeconomic and International Policy (I-MIP).

Certain sectors will be spared, on the goods that the United States cannot do without. Certain raw materials, for example, such as chemicals or aeronautical parts exempt from customs duties. Near Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), good news for a company of 3,000 employees, which provides Airbus and Boeing. The agreement is at the end of six months of waiting. “”It brings serenity and the sector needs it. Because we are today in a race against the clock to make climbs in production cadence. It is a sector that is very promising “, Confides Thomas Girard, Managing Director of Figeac Aero.

Negotiations to finalize the agreement should still last long weeks.