Wine Institute asks for trade talks with India

“The Wine Institute, which represents more than 1,000 California wineries and related businesses, said Friday it strongly supports a request by U.S. trade representatives for World Trade Organization-sponsored talks to reduce what it called India’s ‘prohibitive duties’ on U.S. wines and distilled spirits. The San Francisco-based wine industry trade association wants the WTO to set up dispute-settlement talks to resolve the disagreement. India, with a population of more than 1 billion people and a rapidly growing economy, is becoming an increasingly important market for international wines and spirits producers, including those from California and the United States. But producers complain that it imposes several layers of additional duties on imports of wine and distilled spirits beyond basic customs duties.”