Donald Trump on Monday, January 19 threatened 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne over France’s intentions to decline the US leader’s invitation to join his “board of peace.” The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.
“I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes. And he’ll join. But he doesn’t have to join,” Trump said, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron. A source close to Macron told AFP on Monday that France “does not intend to answer favorably” to the invitation.
The board’s charter “goes beyond the sole framework of Gaza,” the source close to the French president said.
It’s basically the same as trademark law. Anyone can make interlocking plastic bricks, but only Lego can make Lego.
That’s actually a route I never thought of. We’ve closely conflated the name with the type that I don’t think about it that way. So really rather than a specific section for “champagne”, it should actually be a section for “sparkling wines” of which champagne would be in there.
Though that being said, usually a trademark is given to a single company. In this case it’s multiple companies using it, which is where it gets rocky. (Bourbon is another one too)