At a wine shop in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood, bottles sourced from Europe are becoming costlier to import -- and soon, pricier for customers to buy, the owner says -- thanks to a resident just down the road in the White House.
President Donald Trump has slapped a 15-percent tariff on many goods coming from the European Union, as part of a deal the bloc negotiated to avoid even steeper levies.
The continent's important wine and spirits industry hoped to have a carveout, but details released Thursday showed no exemption to the double-digit duty.
The new EU rate took effect this month, replacing a 10-percent levy Trump imposed in April on most trading partners. But even the lower tariff has forced importers to hike prices -- and retailers are feeling the pinch.
"Everybody's redoing their price books at this point," said Michael Warner, co-owner of wine boutique DCanter in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
He told AFP that price increases from importers and distributors became apparent around June, ranging from 10-15 percent.
Over 80 percent of wine in Warner's store is imported, with about two-thirds from Europe.
Businesses may have stocked up to mitigate a price shock from Trump's duties, but inventory is depleting.
As the euro strengthened against the dollar this year too, Warner said many importers "are seeing a 20-percent swing in their costs."
"As more and more importers are increasing their costs, we see that there will be more and more price increases, certainly in the next coming months and going into the holiday season," he said.
