Hennessy Workers Strike Over Plans to Bottle Cognac in China

The turmoil of a trade war between China and Europe burst open this week as hundreds of employees at the Hennessy cognac factory in southwest France on Wednesday walked off the job for a second day to protest what unions said were plans to move brandy bottling to China.

Hennessy, owned by the French luxury giant Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, is exploring the move after China recently imposed steep financial penalties on European brandy imports, according to the Confédération Générale du Travail and Force Ouvrière unions, which represent Hennessy employees.

China last month raised the stakes in a trade dispute with the European Union by imposing temporary penalties on brandy from Europe and warning of possible tariffs on other European goods. The move by Beijing came after the European Union voted to proceed with higher tariffs on imports of electric vehicles made in China. France had led the push for the E.V. tariffs, and almost all the brandy targeted by China is made in France.

Hennessy said in a statement that it was not planning to move cognac production to China, but that it was working to protect its interests and safeguard the industry. “It is important to note that, as of today, nothing has yet been decided and that we are evaluating all possible solutions,” the company said.

The National Interprofessional Cognac Bureau, a trade group, said in a statement that brands could be “forced to explore all avenues” to blunt the impact of Chinese tariffs.

“Workers are very impacted and emotional,” Matthieu Devers, the CGT union leader at Hennessy, said Tuesday in a video posted on X, as nearly 500 workers halted production at the distillery. “They want to show their absolute opposition to the planned tests to move some production to China.”