Around the black olive

A few months ago, the president of the olive sector, Mr Agricultural and food cooperatives and the head of the Agro Sevilla cooperative, Gabriel Cabello, addressed the representatives present in the European Parliament to explain the difficulties this sector has had since 2018. The government of Donald Trump allowed 35% tariffs on Spanish black olive imports to meet the demands of California farmers. Various voices from the primary sector of that West Coast country said that the Spanish were selling olives at a low price and that, with the help of the CAP, they were producing disposal American manufacturers. The person in charge of olive sector The Spaniards also presented the information that in the last five years, the import of this product to the American market fell by 68 percent, which made it lose its competitiveness compared to olives from other countries such as North Africa.

After the end of 2021 World Trade Organization (WTO) published a report in which it explained that the United States’ arguments for the imposition of tariffs were not sustainable and that they were contrary to the rules of this body, the EU once again condemned the United States before WTO encourage you to remove those tariffs. According to Europa Press, once the commission requested by the EU is established, this body will have 90 days to make a decision that the United States can still appeal. If the process ends in favor of European demands, without Washington complying with the WTO ruling, the European Commission has warned that it will have the right to take retaliatory measures.

In November last year, WTO agreed with the manufacturers black olive Spain and ruled that the 35 percent tariffs applied by the United States to exports of this product to the North American market, which were introduced by the administration of Donald Trump in 2018, violate the rules of that multilateral institution. Brussels remained in anticipation of developments after the US government, already under the administration of Joe Biden, accepted this verdict, but believes that the United States has so far not fulfilled the sentence of WTO and that it continues to apply illegitimate tariffs that could drive Spanish olive exporters out of the US market.

The main aim of the compliance proceedings launched this Friday is to pressure the United States to comply with the ruling and remove its “unjustified” tariffs on Spanish black olives.