'Entire' Italy spirits sector at risk from US tariffs

(ANSA) - Rome, October 9 - The "entire" Italy spirits and liqueurs sector is at risk from US tariffs, wine and spirits federation Federvini said Wednesday.
    "The US tariffs put at risk the entire sector of the production of spirits, liqueurs and cordials," it said.
    "Trump's axe may hit a hundred or so companies and several thousands jobs," it said.
    "The tariffs will spell a net loss of export value of at least 35%".
    The US is the second biggest export market for the sector after Germany.
    The United States last Wednesday said it would slap 10% tariffs on European-made Airbus planes and 25% duties on French wine, Scotch and Irish whiskies, and cheese from across the continent as punishment for illegal EU aircraft subsidies.
    The announcement came after the World Trade Organization gave Washington a green light to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU goods annually in the long-running case, a move that threatens to ignite a tit-for-tat transatlantic trade war.
    The measures would follow tariffs levied by the United States and China on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods in their more than year-old trade war.