Photo By Eduardo Parra/Europa Press via Getty Images Cork Wine Bar owners are bracing for the worst Last week’s earth-shattering installment of tariffs by President Donald Trump has stunned the world, sending Wall Street trading floors falling to the worst day since the pa ndemic. With tariffs on goods from Europe currently set to 20 percent (and even higher for imports from Vietnam, Taiwan, and China), D.C. will inevitably experience sticker shock on any pour, ingredient, or packaged product not made in the U.S. Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross, the (openly liberal) co-owners of Cork Wine Bar and Market on 14th Street NW since 2007, have a storied history with Trump. They boldly sued the president during his first administration, claiming his fame and political stature gave his then-Trump International Hotel — a government-owned property along prominent Pennsylvania Avenue NW — an unfair competitive advantage with other businesses (a federal judge later sided with Trump and dismissed the David-and-Goliath case). His second-term tariff move gives a small shop like Cork — which gets the vast majority of its wine from Europe — something big to worry about. Earlier last week, Cork customers were able to buy bottles, six-packs, and cases at a 10- to 15-percent discount — which is 35-percent off what prices may eventually wind up at under the “huge and destructive” tariffs, says Gross. “Lots of neighborhood people and regulars stocked up so they could get deals before the tariffs hit,” she says. They have a second wine shop in Spring Valley. We asked Gross to respond to several questions tied to tariffs and how it will affect the import-heavy wine industry as a whole. Eater DC: How will you likely be affected by these new tariffs? Diane Gross: 95 percent of our wine is from Europe, so the impact of large tariffs would have been significant and game changing for us. We may have been forced to close. The 20 percent is certainly better, but certainly not good by any means — and the fact that it’s across the board means it affects all our wine and specialty food items from Italy and France especially. These are prices that already rose and really never came down after the first European tariffs in the first Trump administration. What are the growers and producers you buy from saying about the situation? How about your D.C. customers? Gross: The bottom line is we work with small importers and distributors and small farmers in Europe, [so] there is not a lot of room to absorb these tariffs, especially for smaller businesses. Our margins are already quite small and at the same time consumers can’t handle more price increases. So we are going to have to get very creative because for us there is no option to pivot to selling something else — Old World is what we have done for over 17 years. How much do you expect prices to increase as a result? And when do you anticipate to start doing that at Cork? Gross: We are going to hold off on increasing prices as long as we can. There is a lot of wine here, many of our importers were able to stock up a bit so we should be able to carry on for a while without increases and then they have promised to help us and give us notice as prices rise so we can make decisions about offering the wines. Favorites are not going away but we are going to bring a rotating amount of new products in so that we can avoid price increases as long as possible. In the end if the tariffs stick, I expect wine prices to rise between 10 to 20 percent. Are you planning on doing anything politically or on the Hill to try to fight these tariffs? Gross: We have been talking to elected officials and the media about the tariffs and the implications for our business and also for American wines. No one wants these tariffs — higher prices hurt all wine consumption and perceptions of the cost of wine and that is a loser for everyone in the industry. Are there any benefits or silver linings of what is happening? Since D.C. has looser distribution laws than other (actual) states, how will that positively come into play? Gross: Higher prices mean consumers pay more or buy less (or likely both), which hurts small businesses and our employees. There’s been strong consensus —from businesses, economists, and everyday people—that this is a bad move. Folks are uniting around that, and we’re starting to see some movement in Congress, which I hope leads to a reversal. The silver lining is that the community is rallying: Winemakers are helping distributors, who are helping restaurants and retailers, who in turn are doing what they can to delay or limit price increases. ...read more read less