1:40When Victor Schwartz left the financial industry during the 1980s for vineyards located in France, his unconventional career path unwittingly set him up to clash with President Donald Trump and his second term’s defining issue. ABC News
When Victor Schwartz left the financial industry during the 1980s for vineyards located in France, his unconventional career path unwittingly set him up to clash with President Donald Trump and his second term’s defining issue.
Schwartz, who established a wine and spirits importing firm in New York, is now the primary plaintiff taking legal action against President Donald Trump concerning his extensive global tariffs — a situation with results that could not only unsettle the international economic landscape but also, he contends, devastate Schwartz’s familial enterprise.
When Victor Schwartz abandoned the world of banking in the 1980s for the vineyards of France, his unorthodox career choice unknowingly put him on a collision course with President Donald Trump and the signature issue of his second administration.ABC News
"I'm concerned about my business, and I'm concerned about numerous other businesses in this nation," Schwartz conveyed to ABC News. "It's a very, very challenging, stringent situation, and you're going to witness companies failing because of this. It's a devastating, horrible burden."
Leading up to Wednesday’s Supreme Court oral arguments, Schwartz expressed certainty regarding the strength of his legal challenge. Two lower courts have sided with Schwartz and four additional businesses that collaborated to contest the tariffs. Their case is being considered in conjunction with a case brought by another small business in addition to a collective of state attorneys general.
"I feel wonderful for several reasons,” he stated. "We possess a compelling argument."
However, Schwartz admitted that the present national discourse surrounding tariffs, spearheaded by Trump, has been irritating to observe. Trump has asserted that tariffs will generate hundreds of billions from international corporations and revitalize the American financial system.
When Victor Schwartz abandoned the world of banking in the 1980s for the vineyards of France, his unorthodox career choice unknowingly put him on a collision course with President Donald Trump and the signature issue of his second administration.ABC News
"I cannot emphasize this sufficiently, foreign entities are not covering the tariffs. American companies are covering the tariffs. I am covering the tariffs, and in due course consumers will observe the cost escalations," he mentioned. "They're triumphing all around, at all the billions of dollars that they're amassing, they deem it's magnificent. What they neglect to state is they're amassing it from American businesses. It's an overwhelming imposition, and especially a notable imposition, on small businesses."
With the wine and spirits importing profession already functioning on slender profit margins, Schwartz clarified that the fluctuating expense of tariffs — combined with the weakening of the U.S. dollar and the trend away from alcohol consumption — has significantly damaged his earnings. The particularities of the alcohol sector in the New York tri-state region, he added, renders it even more complicated to adapt to the tariffs.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 2, 2025.Mark Schiefelbein/AP, FILE
"We aren't able to merely alter our prices if we wish to," he expressed. "We must display our prices in New York and New Jersey over a month in advance, and that signifies we declare what everyone disburses for a case of wine, what the deductions are if you acquire three cases of wine or 10 cases of wine, we cannot simply adjust that, because some hidden factor fluctuates."
Schwartz shared that he’s thankful for the opportunity to contest the tariffs in a court of law,
According to Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, Schwartz and the other small entrepreneurs were picked after conversing with roughly 50 business proprietors who expressed concerns regarding the tariffs.
"I believe we settled on five that we considered would be fitting plaintiffs, and that they desired to be plaintiffs," he clarified. "They comprehended the significance of the case, the reality that we would be suing the President of the United States, elements of that nature."
As he readied himself to hear the Supreme Court arguments on Wednesday, Schwartz stated that he couldn’t be more conscious of the stakes implicated in confronting the President in a legal battle that could shape the enduring feasibility of his company.
"Competing against the executive branch, competing against Trump, you realize, they spare no one. There's an immense amount at stake," he mentioned.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
