Europe Challenges US Tariffs on Spanish Olives

The European Union is tak­ing legal action against tar­iffs imposed by the United States on Spanish olive imports by seek­ing adju­di­ca­tion from the World Trade Organization.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) imposed anti-dump­ing tar­iffs rang­ing from 16.88 to 25.50 per­cent and anti-sub­sidy tar­iffs rang­ing from 7.52 to 27.02 per­cent on Spanish olives last July.

“The duties imposed by the United States on black olives from Spain are unjus­ti­fied, unwar­ranted and go against the rules of the World Trade Organization,” Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Trade, said in a Tweet. ​“Tomorrow, we are tak­ing this case to the WTO dis­pute set­tle­ment sys­tem, request­ing con­sul­ta­tions with the U.S.”

From the Commission side, we have already raised this case with our US coun­ter­parts at many occa­sions. Together with Spanish author­i­ties, we will con­tinue to vig­or­ously defend the inter­ests of EU pro­duc­ers. 2/2

— Cecilia Malmström (@MalmstromEU) 28 de enero de 2019

Under WTO rules, the two sides now have fewer than 60 days to try and set­tle the dis­pute. If the two sides can­not come to an agree­ment after that period of time, the E.U. may ask the WTO to make a rul­ing on the mat­ter.

Malmström said that the E.U. has repeat­edly broached the sub­ject with U.S. trade offi­cials, but been unable to come to an agree­ment.

“From the Commission side, we have already raised this case with our U.S. coun­ter­parts at many occa­sions,” she said. ​“Together with Spanish author­i­ties, we will con­tinue to vig­or­ously defend the inter­ests of E.U. pro­duc­ers.”

Luis Planas, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, wel­comed the move after a meet­ing in Brussels with the European Commission.

“It’s good news. The European Commission is tak­ing the unfair trade restric­tions that the table olives are suf­fer­ing to the WTO,” he said in a Tweet. ​“The sec­tor deserves it. They have my total sup­port.”

The U.S. imported about $70 mil­lion of table olives from Spain last year.

The tar­iffs came about after two California com­pa­nies filed an anti-dump­ing com­plaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). This find­ing coin­cided with the con­clu­sions of a DOC inves­ti­ga­tion that said Spanish olive grow­ers unfairly ben­e­fited from the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which pro­vides finan­cial aid to farm­ers.

Neither the DOC nor the ITC have com­mented on the E.U.’s deci­sion to file a com­plaint with the WTO. However, when the tar­iffs were first announced in July, an ITC spokes­woman said that both depart­ments had deter­mined Spanish olives had a ​“mate­r­ial advan­tage” over U.S.-grown olives, which is why the tar­iffs were imple­mented.

According to the Spanish Association of Olive Exporters, table olive exports had already fallen by 72 per­cent just two months after the tar­iffs were for­mally imple­mented in August 2018.

José María Castilla Baró, who rep­re­sents the Spanish Farmer’s Union (ASAJA) in Brussels, told Forbes that the CAP is in line with WTO rules.

“We wel­come the deci­sion of the European Commission with great inter­est,” he said. ​“The tar­iffs imposed on the Spanish olives in the U.S. are not jus­ti­fied and go against the rules of the WTO.”

As olive grow­ers and exporters wait for the WTO rul­ing in antic­i­pa­tion, the European Commission has announced a grant total­ing €2.5 mil­lion ($2.85 mil­lion) for those affected by the tar­iffs in order to ​“seek alter­na­tive mar­kets.”

Castilla Baró is happy for the sup­port and also opti­mistic that the E.U. will win the case, but as sev­eral trade experts have warned, it might not be so sim­ple.

The admin­is­tra­tion of U.S. President Donald J Trump fun­da­men­tally opposes the idea of the WTO and, as a result, has already blocked the reap­point­ment of four of the organization’s seven appeals judges.

With only three judges left – the min­i­mum num­ber required for the orga­ni­za­tion to decide cases – the already back­logged appeals process is mov­ing slowly.

The terms of two more judges are also set to end in December 2019 and, with the U.S. expected to block nom­i­na­tions to those posi­tions as well, experts pre­dict that Spanish olive pro­duc­ers will be left with no solu­tions and hefty tar­iffs for the fore­see­able future.

• Reuters


• Forbes