No dolce vita for the U.S.-Italian wine trade. (And a note on the meaning of the phrase; it’s not what you think!)

In a social media post Friday, Trump wrote that he was imposing 50 percent tariffs on products from the E.U. By the end of the holiday weekend, he had stepped back from that threat and offered a new deadline for negotiations before industry-killing taxes are put into effect.

Everyone in our industry drew a sigh of relief after he withdrew his threat. As the U.S. Wine Trade Alliance wrote in its newsletter flash:

A 50 percent tariff would essentially be a trade embargo on goods from the European Union, which would do irreparable harm to hundreds of thousands of businesses here in the United States… The United States imports roughly $15,000,000 in wine each day from the European Union, from which American businesses make $67,000,000.

Were those taxes to take effect in July when the deadline for ongoing negotiations expires, it would be devastating for wine trade members. As the USWTA points out, it would mean a virtual “embargo.”

But the bigger and more immediate problem we are facing is the uncertainty and the continued “kicking the can down the road.” Our industry is completely deadlocked at this point. Across the board, U.S. importers — large and small — have delayed their orders. And the E.U.’s investment in the U.S. wine trade is also on hold.

I guess no one needs 30 different types of Brunello for Christmas anyway, right?

In other news…

After reading the umpteenth misunderstanding of “la dolce vita” in one of our nation’s leading daily papers, I wanted to clarify that Italian director Federico Fellini always pointed out that the expression did not denote, for him, the “carefree life of the wealthy Roman bourgeoisie,” as the expression has come to mean in pop culture.

Instead, it was an echo of the “sweetness of life” that even the most depraved character can find, like Marcello watching the little girl play on the beach after a night of debauchery and meaningless personal interactions at a celebrity-driven party. Even when you touch rock bottom, as it were, there is still a “sweetness to life.”

Oh, and the image above? It’s from the 1952 Neorealist classic, Umberto D, the story of a man fatefully trapped by the absurdities of an uncaring government. Sound familiar? Thanks for being here.