THE TARIFF ISSUE We asked Andrea: after the pandemic, we have witnessed significant growth in Prosecco exports, with increases of 40% to the United States and 117% to China. What contributed to this very important relaunch? And, above all, how does the issue of tariffs fit into this context? Below is Andrea Desana’s answer. “The issue of tariffs is complex. First of all, we still do not know for sure what tariffs will be applied (Ed.: the chat takes place in July 2025), and this uncertainty already represents a problem. Italian wine has a huge presence in the United States, with a market share of around 30% or more. If a tariff were introduced, for example 10%, a significant slice of the market would inevitably be lost. If the tariff were even higher, to give an example of 17%, the consequences would be even more serious, especially for medium-range wines. The latter, with a price increase of 20-30 euros per bottle, would risk at the very least being replaced by wines of other nationalities, more competitive on an economic level. The uncertainty linked to tariffs concerns not only producers but also consumers and distributors. When you don’t know the rules, you tend to postpone every decision: producers hesitate to supply, distributors to buy, and consumers to order. But wine cannot wait: warehouses fill up and overproduction becomes a problem. To address this situation, many protection consortia are proposing to the Ministry of Agriculture measures such as green pruning, which reduces per-hectare production (for example, from 80 to 60 quintals) to avoid an excess of supply. The issue is open.”