LVMH sales dip 2% as Trump tariffs rock economy

Leading luxury goods firm LVMH saw sales fall two percent to 20.3 billion euros ($23 billion) in the first quarter of 2025 as Donald Trump's tariffs shook the global economy, the company said on Monday.

The France-based company behind Louis Vuitton and Dom Perignon, owned by Trump ally and Europe's richest man Bernard Arnault, generates a quarter of its revenue in the United States.

Despite putting up decent numbers in fashion, watches and jewellery in the country, LVMH saw a "slight decline" in its overall US sales, the firm said in a statement -- without giving a figure for that fall.

In his so-called April 2 "Liberation Day" Trump announced a slew of tariffs on trading partners across the world, including a 20-percent duty on European goods, before subsequently backtracking and pausing their implementation for 90 days.

"We all need to... stay very calm because we are in unknown territories," LVMH's chief financial officer Cecile Cabanis told analysts.

"The worst is never certain."

Wine and spirits was the worst-affected sector for the maker of Moet & Chandon champagne and Hennessy, plummeting eight percent across the world, dragged down in particular by the cognac market.

In 2024, the United States accounted for 34 percent of LVMH's wine and spirits sales of 5.86 billion euros. 

"Cognac was held back by weaker demand in China and the United States," LVMH acknowledged. 

The group behind Loewe and Dior likewise saw its worldwide fashion and leather goods revenue fall by four percent in the first quarter to 10.1 billion euros.

However perfumes and cosmetics revenue held steady at 2.17 billion euros, as did its watches and jewellery business at 2.48 billion euros.

Arnault, who attended Trump's inauguration in January, has said he would prefer "not to talk" about tariffs. "I'd prefer to try and act calmly," the chief executive said in February as he presented his group's 2024 results.