The European Commission discusses with the United States tariffs on Spanish table olives – International

On Thursday, the European Commission discussed with the United States the maintenance of tariffs on Spanish table olives, which should expire in January.

A fruitful and timely exchange with the (United States) Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, and the European Commission’s Executive Vice President and Head of Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, through his Twitter profile.

Dombrovskis noted that he held a video conference with Raimondo in which they discussed preparations for the upcoming EU-US Technology and Trade Council to be held soon in Sweden.

The Latvian politician added that we also exchanged views on export control, cooperation in the field of steel and aluminum, and the issue of Spanish olives.

On January 30, Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, said in Brussels, where he was participating in the Branch’s Community Owners’ Council, that Spain was asking the European Commission to return the United States to the United States. World Trade Organization (WTO) for tariffs on Spanish olives.

According to him, the Spanish government is concerned about “the US administration’s reading of the US court’s ruling last September in favor of imposing a 35% tariff on this product.”

“It does not seem appropriate to us regarding the opinion of the (WTO) committee regarding table olives. We are in contact with the European Commission. We expected that the decision of the United States to accept the opinion of the committee would mean an immediate amendment and effective implementation of its legislation. It was not,” Planas said at the time. This is the situation “.

Since 2018, the United States has imposed a 35% tariff on Spanish black olives, a measure that the World Trade Organization has ruled against in 2021.

The United States subsequently committed the European Union to amend its legislation before January 14, 2023.

However, last September, a new ruling in the United States in favor of a tariff on Spanish black olives once again questioned the EU’s aid to the cultivation.

Spanish employers raised the losses due to the tariff to 170 million euros and demanded compensatory aid.

In 2021, general exports of Spanish olives (including green) to the United States amounted to 54.5 million kilograms, 10% less than the previous year, due to tariffs.

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