Nicolas Florian, the mayor of Bordeaux, which is the administrative center of the New Aquitaine region where Trump’s plane is scheduled to arrive for the G7 meeting in Biarritz, wrote that they are offering a bottle of Château Figeac Saint-Emilion grand cru classé made in 200 while “counting on his benevolence and moderation in the face of his desire to increase customs taxes on wines.”
Geste à l'attention de @realDonaldTrump attendu en #NouvelleAquitaine pour le #G7 : nous lui offrons cette bouteille représentant l'excellence de notre terroir comptant sur sa bienveillance et sa modération devant ses velléités d’augmentation des taxes douanières sur les vins 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/7CW0m2xQos
— Nicolas Florian (@nflorian33) August 23, 2019
The mayor of the Libourne commune of Buisson Philippe, who was in Quebec on Friday at the opening of a wine festival with Florian made a similar statement.
Earlier, the US President went on Twitter to condemn Paris’ move to introduce taxes on US digital companies operating in France, warning that President Macron’s "foolishness” would result in Washington taking reciprocal steps against Paris and that French wine could be targeted in “substantial” retaliation, adding that he “always said American wine is better than French wine.”
France just put a digital tax on our great American technology companies. If anybody taxes them, it should be their home Country, the USA. We will announce a substantial reciprocal action on Macron’s foolishness shortly. I’ve always said American wine is better than French wine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2019
France is a major wine-producing nation and the US is one of its biggest export markets, accounting for 18% of French wine exports and worth €1.7bn, up almost a third over the past five years. Wine is a crucial part of France’s identity and economy, being its second-biggest export after aerospace technologies in value terms.
