French luxury stocks drop as Trump threatens heavy new tariffs

Shares of French luxury goods makers, including LVMH and Hermes, dropped in European trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump’s administration said it may place heavy tariffs on several goods.

LVMH – which includes the brands Louis Vuitton and Hennessy – and Hermes each fell more than 2% following the announcement.

The move by the U.S. comes in retaliation to France’s implementation of a Digital Services Tax. Under the new tariffs, which may begin in late January, the U.S. Trade Representative could add levies up to 100% on around $2.4 billion imports from France.

“This would essentially double taxes on French companies and citizens with U.S. income,” Cowen said in a note to investors. “These tariffs would be in addition to the WTO-sanctioned October tariffs stemming from the Airbus subsidies that target ~$25B in European goods (mainly France, Spain, Germany and UK).”

Shares of Christian Dior and Kering – the luxury group that owns brands like Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga – also each fell more than 2%.

“Once again, key French consumer/agricultural brands have been targeted including cheese and champagne,” Cowen said.

Verallia, the glass bottle maker for Dom Perignon and others, was also among the French stocks falling, as shares slipped more than 1%.

You can read the full list here of proposed tariffs on French imports.

– CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed to this report.