It's just a budget estimate, but a very serious one. Sardinia could emerge with its bones broken from the intercontinental battle between the US and the European Union, and the 30% tariffs announced next August on European goods shipped overseas could cost the island's businesses around half a billion euros in losses per year.

Oil and its derivatives above all (the island's refineries have chosen the United States as their preferred trading partner for years), but also the agri-food sector, driven by cheese, wine, and olive oil: disaster for the Sardinian economy is imminent, even though irreparable damage may already have begun. "It's a terrible blow, almost absurd, that will severely harm the Sardinian wine sector," says Mariano Murru, regional president of Assoenologi. "Since April, we've been struggling to cope with tariffs that were preliminarily set at 10%. But now that they've been officially set at 30%, it will be almost impossible to operate."

The representative of Sardinian winemakers is well aware that the moment is already critical for the sector : "We are experiencing a worrying decline in wine consumption, driven by excessive health concerns that are demonizing alcoholic beverages. We therefore cannot afford further crises, especially since the American market is irreplaceable in the short term."

The full article by Luca Mascia in L'Unione Sarda, on newsstands today and on the Digital App.

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