Customs duty from France to United States: Import Duty Guide

Key Takeaways

• France trades under the same 2025-2026 EU-US framework as the rest of the EU - a 15% tariff ceiling on most goods, with steel and aluminium excluded and remaining at 50%.
• Wine and champagne face a genuinely separate, France-specific risk: 200% tariff threats in January 2026 and 100% threats in June 2026, both explicitly tied to France’s 3% digital services tax, not the general EU-US framework.
• French wine and spirits exports to the US fell 21% (to roughly €3.0 billion) in 2025, and wine specifically fell 15.9% in value, attributed to the combined effect of the tariff framework and the separate threats.
• Major cognac producers previously avoided tariff escalation by agreeing to enforce a minimum sale price - an unusual, company-specific arrangement, not a permanent sector-wide exemption.
• US goods imports from France reached $68.1 billion in full-year 2025, led by machinery, aerospace (Airbus-related goods), wine and spirits, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods and cosmetics.

France-US Trade at a Glance

US goods imports from France reached $68.1 billion in full-year 2025 (US Census Bureau). Machinery is the largest single category (roughly $10-10.6 billion, 2024 baseline), followed by aircraft and spacecraft - largely Airbus-related - at around $6.1-6.2 billion, wine, spirits, and other beverages at around $5.1 billion, pharmaceutical products at roughly $4.0 billion, and luxury goods, perfumes, and cosmetics at $3.2-4.4 billion.

Is There a Trade Deal Between France and the US?

France trades under the same EU-wide framework covered on this site’s Germany to US and EU to US lane pages - a 15% all-inclusive tariff ceiling on most goods including autos, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors, with steel and aluminium excluded and remaining at 50% under Section 232.

Wine, Champagne, and a Genuinely Separate French Dispute

What’s distinctive about importing from France to United States is a dispute that has nothing to do with the general EU-US framework: President Trump threatened a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne in January 2026, and renewed a 100% tariff threat in June 2026 - both explicitly conditioned on France dropping its 3% digital services tax, a long-running point of friction unrelated to the broader tariff negotiations (CNBC, January 2026; CNBC, June 2026).

Major cognac producers previously avoided an earlier round of tariff escalation by agreeing to enforce a minimum sale price for cognac - an unusual, company-specific negotiated arrangement rather than a government-to-government carve-out, and it predates the current tech-tax dispute.

The measurable effect has been real: French wine and spirits exports to the US fell 21% to roughly €3.0 billion in 2025, and wine specifically (a narrower category) fell 15.9% in value to €1.9 billion, down from €2.4 billion in 2024 (Reuters, via Yahoo Finance; Euronews).

As of this writing, no permanent, sector-wide French carve-out is locked in - wine and spirits remain exposed to both the general 15% EU-US framework and further unilateral escalation tied to the digital-tax dispute, a genuinely distinctive risk profile compared to other EU member states’ exports to the US.

How Much Will You Pay Importing from France to the US?

For most goods covered by the EU-US framework - machinery, pharmaceuticals, and similar manufactured categories - expect up to 15%. Steel and aluminium sit outside that ceiling at 50%.

Wine, champagne, and spirits carry additional, genuinely unpredictable risk given the active digital-tax dispute - the rate that actually applies at any given time has moved substantially within the past year and could move again.

US valuation uses FOB, there’s no import VAT (only state sales tax at checkout), no de minimis exemption of any value, and a Merchandise Processing Fee of roughly $8.06 on a typical informal entry.

Frequently Asked Questions About Import Fees From France to USA

Does France have a special trade deal with the US?

No - France trades under the same EU-wide framework as every other EU member state. The wine and champagne tariff threats are a separate, France-specific dispute tied to its digital services tax, not a distinct trade agreement.

Why are wine and champagne singled out?

President Trump has twice threatened very high tariffs (200% in January 2026, 100% in June 2026) on French wine and champagne specifically, explicitly linked to France’s 3% digital services tax rather than the general EU-US tariff framework - a dispute that predates and sits alongside the broader framework.

Has this actually affected trade?

Yes, measurably - French wine and spirits exports to the US fell 21% in 2025, and wine specifically fell nearly 16% in value, changes attributed to the combined effect of the general tariff framework and the additional threats.

How big is France-US trade?

US goods imports from France reached $68.1 billion in full-year 2025, led by machinery, aerospace goods (largely Airbus-related), wine and spirits, pharmaceuticals, and luxury goods.