US tariffs could push Canarian wine to 200 dollars a bottle

The US is planning to impose special tariffs on European goods. In the case of wine, tariffs of up to 200 per cent are to be imposed. The price of wine from the Canary Islands would then rise from 60 to as much as 200 dollars per bottle.

That would be a real problem for the archipelago. After all, just under a third of the wine produced in the Canary Islands is exported to the US. The islands are popular overseas thanks to the rising number of tourists from the US. And so is their wine.

Alejandro Narvay Quintero Castañeda, as Minister for Agriculture, is responsible for this area. The politician has now set out the issues involved. Meanwhile, wine growers are expressing concern, but are also demonstrating typical Canary Islands pragmatism:

Canary Islands wine would suffer under US special tariffs

Quintero says of US President Donald Trump: «He is challenging us.» Nevertheless, Quintero wants to «convey a message of calm». The minister says: «I hope that common sense will prevail, because we are all suffering here, including American farmers.»

The issue came up after Quintero was questioned by the Grupo Nacionalista Canario (CCa) in the Canary Islands Parliament regarding the special tariffs. Quintero already had all the key figures to hand, but made it clear that he did not intend to get flustered for the time being.

Nevertheless, there is a great deal at stake for the Canary Islands. This is because the North American market buys large quantities of Canary Island wine. 140,000 bottles are shipped each year. For this small archipelago, that is a significant amount.

Wine worth around 1.2 million euros is exported to the US. CCa Member Francisco Linares García expressed his «concern», as «this turnover is important for our winegrowers and we are currently hearing that tariffs could be as high as 200 per cent».

Whilst the CCa speaks of the «beginning of the end», Quintero sees reason to wait and see. For the time being, he argues, these are merely «threats» from the US, which is why it makes sense to «keep calm for now».

The Canary Islands and US punitive tariffs: «The wine sector would be the biggest loser»

Nevertheless, Quintero also sees a fundamental problem – should the punitive tariffs be implemented – because: «We are living in a time of great uncertainty, and one of the biggest losers would be the primary sector». With regard to the Canary Islands, «the biggest loser would be the wine industry».

This is because the wine exported to the US is «a gourmet wine, and North America is a very important market for the Canary Islands». This is due to the favourable prices paid for exports to the US. Consequently, the Canary Islands do not wish to lose this market.

The Winegrowers‘ Association had already demonstrated pragmatism during Trump’s previous term in office: when the US President imposed a 25 per cent punitive tariff on wine from the Canary Islands at the time, says Juan Jesús Méndez, the importers and producers each bore ten per cent of the cost. The remaining five per cent was added to the price. At that time, Méndez continued, Joe Biden’s administration subsequently abolished the tariffs. After two difficult years, the issue was thus resolved.