How Trump’s tariffs could affect CA wine

As California moves to sue President Donald Trump’s administration over tariffs, Californians working in the state’s wine, agricultural and port industries must navigate a murky economic outlook that could upend their livelihoods, writes CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay.

Igor Ivanov owns the Vinous Reverie wine shop in Walnut Creek. Because it sells mostly wines from Europe — where Trump has threatened 200% tariffs — Ivanov said he may need to make some changes, including stocking up on California wines or closing his shop altogether.

• Ivanov: “I’d have to think about whether it’s worthwhile staying in business.”

At stake: The U.S. wine industry makes about $86 billion in annual sales, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and California exported $1.3 billion worth of wine in 2022.

But tariffs don’t just affect wine sellers. Winemakers could face higher costs on bottles, since glass is mostly imported from China, as well as labels, corks, wooden stakes for vines and more.

California is also a major exporter of wine, making up 95% of the country’s U.S. exports, said a spokesperson for the Wine Institute. More than a third of the exports go to Canada — a country in which some of its political leaders have publicly criticized Trump’s tariffs and warned against traveling to the U.S.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes Napa’s Wine Country, said some of his constituents have reported that their Canadian business partners have canceled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of orders. Potential sales to Mexico or the European Union are also on hold. One winery in St. Helena told Thompson’s staff that due to tariffs Trump imposed during his first term, it lost 90% of its business with China.

But Natalie Collins, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, said there could be one benefit: Tariffs on competing wines, including those from Europe, could help local California wineries.

That includes Bruce Lundquist, co-founder of the California sparkling wine producer Rack & Riddle, who agreed with Collins.

• Lundquist: “I wish Americans would look at wines grown in their backyard.”

For more on how Trump’s tariffs could impact other industries, read Levi’s story.

“I really didn’t know what to expect.”

That’s how Judge Ronald Owen Kaye described his reaction to CalMatters’ Joe Garcia after Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2020.

Kaye presides over a mental health court, a key component of the state’s effort to implement diversion services amid a growing number of criminal defendants struggling with mental health issues. These courts receive alleged offenders who are incompetent, or at risk of being found incompetent, to stand trial. Through partnerships with county health services, the courts can also help connect individuals with treatment and housing.

Before becoming a judge, Kaye was a former legal aid attorney, a federal public defender and a civil rights attorney. He’s had a history of filing multiple lawsuits against the county related to failures for providing proper mental health care.

Kaye frequently interacts with defendants dealing with chronic homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse, and says he aims to “make people feel comfortable in court and make them feel like they matter.”

• Kaye: “I’m always balancing these issues of liberty — people’s freedom; and treatment — getting them quality of care; and making sure the community is safe. That’s essentially what I do in virtually every aspect of my job.”

Read more here.

At the beginning of the legislative session, Democratic legislative leaders said they intended to push colleagues to focus on the state’s cost-of-living issues. But the narrow passing of a pro-housing bill, during a tense Senate committee hearing Tuesday, underscores a rift among Democrats who want to quickly build housing and other infrastructure projects, and progressives concerned with affordability and labor agreements.

As CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang explains, Senate Bill 79 would require cities to allow taller and denser housing construction near public transit stations. Sen. Aisha Wahab, a Fremont Democrat and chairperson of the Senate Housing Committee, opposed the bill saying that the measure didn’t guarantee that projects would be built with union labor, nor require new units to be affordable for low-income residents.

• Wahab, in an interview with CalMatters: “Because there is such a need right now, developers are seizing the moment and experimenting with options that are truly a sweetheart deal for them.”

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, the author of the bill and a vocal advocate for housing production, pushed back against Wahab, arguing that she only provided blanket opposition to the bill instead of offering possible amendments.

• Wiener, at Tuesday’s hearing: “There’s apparently not a single thing in the bill you like.”

Read more here.

Tourism from Canada — California’s second-largest international market — is falling amid backlash to Trump’s policies and rhetoric. CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on how Canadian tourism affects California’s economy as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.