Rio Julio, Portugal (AP) – US winemakers have something to celebrate: cork They’re not subject to customs duties that they’re popping.
Cork comes primarily from the spongy bark of cork oak trees that are grown and harvested Mediterranean Basin. Framework Trade Agreement The US and the European Union selected this material as “unavailable natural products.” As of September 1, Cork had participated in several other items, including planes and common medicines. US 15% tariff For most EU products.
Cork sculpture was essential Portugal. European countries are the world’s largest cork producers, accounting for about half of global production.
Portuguese diplomats lobbyed for exemptions on both sides of the Atlantic. Patrick Spencer, executive director of the US-based Nature Cork Council, competed in Washington in June from Salem, Oregon, in Salem, Washington, to explain the origins of the cork to US trade officials and sought tariff resignation. Representative wine research institute California Vintnerit also said that it called for a special distribution.
Spencer said he was excited when a summary of the US EU agreement, released in August, mentioned Cork.
“It was a great day in our neighborhood,” said Spencer, a self-proclaimed “cork dork.”
Workers will use steel a to gently pierce the bark of a cork tree so that it can be peeled off in Rio Julio, Portugal on Thursday, August 28, 2025.
More than cork
It’s unclear whether the cork is unique or something else. Natural products Future trade agreements will exempt US tariffs. When Associated Press asked about the tariff exemption, the US Department of Commerce and the White House did not respond.
It is not clear whether President Donald Trump has imported from 27 EU members. Almost every country It remains. Later last month, The US Court of Appeals has ruled Trump had no right to impose drastic tariffs while his administration sued the US Supreme Court.
However, if the tariffs remain, the cork may inform other exemptions are coming. US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick An interview with CNBC in July showed that there may be no tariffs on natural products such as mango and cocoa
US dependence
The US is the second largest market for Portuguese cork France. In 2023, the US imported $241 million worth of cork from Portugal. Over 70% of those came in the form of stoppers For wine, SpiritOlive oil, honey and other liquids, according to the Natural Cork Council, a trading group.
Cork has other applications as well. NASA and SpaceX are used to protect rockets. The cork crumble is also used as an infill for sports fields, and is inserted into concrete on the airport runway to absorb the impact of an airplane landing.
I have it in California Similar climate For the Mediterranean, the US has never developed the cork industry. There were attempts to start one during World War II, and from that time period around 500 Cork Oaks remained on the University of California, Davis campus.
However, when the war ended, efforts evaporated. Problem: It takes 25 years for a cork tree to produce the first bark for harvest, but the initial yield is usually not of high quality. It then takes about nine years to grow new bark.
“Americans are not as patient as they wait for the tree that will take 25 years to their first harvest,” said Antonio Amorim, chairman and CEO of Portugal. Corticeira Amorimone of the largest cork companies in the world.
Cork harvesting is also a very specialized skill. Because it’s a very specialized skill, as the wrong way can kill it. Cork harvesters are Europe’s highest paying farm worker, Spencer said.
Workers will strip the bark of a cork tree in Rio Julio, Portugal on Thursday, August 28th, 2025 (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Harvest by hand
Amorim, which exports cork to more than 100 countries, has over 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of forests and over 20 million cork trees.
Recently, at Harded de Liohlio in Amorim, a farm 40km (25 miles) southeast of Lisbon, the crew strode across thin, pale grass amongst scattered cork trees and kicked the dust.
The quiet forest echoed through the gentle and serene part of the worker’s axis. They gently thrust the bark and felt the cork thickness that could be peeled off without damaging the trunk. Portuguese have harvested cork like this for over 200 years.
The bark of the tree came off with feather-grade slabs thrown into flatbed trucks, with hands blackened from the natural tannins of the Oaks. It goes to the factory, cut into strips and fed to a machine that punches the stopper.
When the tree was exposed, the woman drew a white “5” on the orange trunk, informing her that it had been peeled off in 2025. To Portugal It can resist droughts and summer temperatures frequently and was planted over 100 years ago.
Please insert the cork
The sustainable harvesting process of cork and its biodegradability are two reasons why many US winemakers have returned to bottled themselves after experimenting with closures made from aluminum, plastic and glass. In 2010, 53% of premium US wines used cork stoppers. By 2022 it had risen to 64.5%, according to the Nature Cork Council.
The contamination of corks, given the wine a funky flavour and caused by natural cork fungi, was a major problem in the 1990s, pushing many winters into aluminum screw caps and other closures, said Andrew Waterhouse, chemist and director of the Robert Mondavi Institute at the University of California.
The cork industry has almost solved that problem, Waterhouse said. Meanwhile, Wine Industry Over time, we came up with new technologies, such as screw caps that can mimic corks with the amount of oxygen placed in the bottle.
Many wineries, including the Trump Winery in Virginia, currently use both screw caps and natural corks. Waterhouse said screw caps generally make more sense for wines like rosé, which are not intended to get older, but cork is the standard for Aging wine.
“Is this wine properly aged?” and they said, “Was it in a glass bottle with a cork seal in a cool cellar?” Under other conditions it didn’t age as well,” Waterhouse said. “We’re always trapped in history.”
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Durbin was reported from Detroit.
