Caught in the crossfire: Cognac pays the price for Europe’s trade wars

As the Cognac harvest draws to a close in southwestern France, winegrowers already know they face another difficult year. Cognac makers are struggling. The 300-year-old amber brandy is only produced around the Charente River, but it has been caught in the trade wars between the EU and China, as well as by tensions with its top export market, the US. For months, producers have watched largely powerless as access to both markets has been squeezed. The industry has a historic connection to the EU. Jean Monnet, the French statesman regarded as one of the EU’s founding fathers, came from a…