US Tariffs Freeze Portuguese Wine Exports — But Cork Dodges the Bullet
US importers have frozen orders for Portuguese wine as a 15% tariff takes hold, threatening an export channel worth EUR 102 million. Yet Portuguese cork has won an exemption from the surcharge.
American importers have effectively stopped placing new orders for Portuguese wine, according to Paulo Amorim, president of the National Association of Wine and Spirits Traders and Exporters (ANCEVE). The freeze — triggered by a 15 per cent US tariff on European wine that took full effect in recent weeks — threatens to upend an export channel worth EUR 102 million to Portugal in 2024, when the United States was the country's second-largest wine buyer.
Yet in a twist that underscores the selective nature of Washington's trade offensive, Portuguese cork has been granted an explicit exemption from the surcharge — a decision the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) called "decisive in reversing recent negative trends" and one that secures the industry's competitive position in its largest overseas market.
The Wine Problem
The European Association of Wine Companies (CEEV) estimates that US importers' collective halt on EU wine purchases is costing European producers roughly EUR 100 million per week. Portugal's share of that pain is proportionally significant: the country's wine sector, concentrated in the Douro, Alentejo, and Vinho Verde regions, relies on the American market for a growing slice of revenue that producers had spent years building.
The tariff arithmetic is brutal. At 15 per cent, Portuguese wine enters the US at a steeper disadvantage than competitors from Australia or Chile, which face only 10 per cent duties under separate bilateral arrangements. For mid-range Portuguese bottles — the EUR 5 to EUR 12 category that had been gaining traction with American consumers — the tariff adds enough to the shelf price to push them out of their competitive sweet spot.
Producers report that the damage is not limited to cancelled orders. The uncertainty itself is toxic. Importers who might tolerate a known 15 per cent duty are instead sitting on their hands because President Trump has signalled the rate could rise further, and the EU's retaliatory response — expected by April 13 — could trigger another escalation.
The Cork Exception
Cork tells a different story. Portugal supplies roughly half the world's cork, and the material is classified as a raw industrial input rather than a finished consumer good. That distinction earned it an exemption from the 15 per cent surcharge, keeping the effective tariff at the baseline 10 per cent.
APCOR has been lobbying Washington for months, arguing that no viable American substitute exists for natural cork in wine bottling, construction insulation, and aerospace applications. The exemption appears to reflect that reality: taxing cork would raise costs for American wine producers who depend on Portuguese closures for their own bottles.
The irony is not lost on the industry. Portuguese cork — which literally seals bottles of Portuguese wine — enters America at a lower tariff than the wine it was designed to accompany.
Government Response
Lisbon has moved on multiple fronts. The government's EUR 600 million credit line announced this week — primarily aimed at energy costs — also covers trade-disrupted exporters. The broader EUR 10 billion support package includes specific provisions for the wine sector, though details on eligibility and disbursement timelines remain thin.
The wine industry's immediate ask is simpler: clarity. If the 15 per cent tariff is the ceiling, producers say they can adapt — reformulating blends, absorbing margins, or redirecting volume to Asian and African markets where Portuguese wine has been gaining ground. But if the rate climbs to 20 per cent or higher in a tit-for-tat spiral, the damage to a decade of US market-building could prove irreversible.
For now, the corks keep shipping. The wine stays in the barrel.
