Trump's Tariffs Threaten Greek Olive Oil, Table Olives

Summary

President Trump’s 20 per­cent tar­iffs on food imports from the E.U. threaten the posi­tion of Greek olive oil and table olives in the American mar­ket, impact­ing exports and prices. The tar­iffs have been sus­pended for 90 days, but if rein­stated, they could lead to Greek olive prod­ucts becom­ing less com­pet­i­tive com­pared to other coun­tries with lower tar­iffs.

The tar­iffs imposed by the Trump admin­is­tra­tion on imports of food prod­ucts from the European Union to the United States threaten to over­turn the estab­lished posi­tion of Greek olive oil and table olives in the American mar­ket.

Since April 9^th, how­ever, the so-called ​“rec­i­p­ro­cal” tar­iffs have been sus­pended for 90 days.

The min­i­mum ten per­cent tar­iff rate is still in place for prod­ucts enter­ing the U.S. from nearly every coun­try, includ­ing E.U. mem­ber states.

“The U.S. mar­ket is the top export des­ti­na­tion of Greek bot­tled olive oil, along with Germany,” Yiorgos Mitrakos, the direc­tor of Sevitel, the asso­ci­a­tion of Greek olive oil bot­tlers, told Olive Oil Times.

“The tar­iffs, if and when they come into force, will mean that olive oil exporters from other coun­tries, such as Turkey, which are hit with only a ten-per­cent import tar­iff, could seize the oppor­tu­nity to increase their share in the American mar­ket.”

Mitrakos added that, even if the Trump admin­is­tra­tion rein­states the 20 per­cent tar­iffs on E.U. prod­ucts, American con­sumers who want to pur­chase Greek bot­tled olive oil will still pay less than they did last year, since prices have decreased this year.

“Nevertheless, there is always a win­dow for nego­ti­a­tions to abol­ish the tar­iffs for Greek bot­tled olive oil, as hap­pened in 2019,” Mitrakos noted.

Meanwhile, offi­cials in Greece, includ­ing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have dis­missed the American tar­iffs imposed on European and Greek prod­ucts as ​“illog­i­cal.”

“Greece insists that we have a uni­fied response so that we can be effec­tive as a group of 27 [E.U. mem­ber states],” Mitsotakis said in a cab­i­net meet­ing. ​“In any case, we will fight to defend our national inter­ests.”

Tariffs are essen­tially taxes on imports of prod­ucts, which are usu­ally passed on to end con­sumers in low-mar­gin indus­tries as a per­cent­age of a product’s value. 

The 20 per­cent tar­iff imposed on olive oil from European pro­duc­ers means that a bot­tle of extra vir­gin olive oil sold for $20 in American super­mar­kets would have a $4 tax on top, bring­ing the cost to $24.

The Greek table olive sec­tor is also in tur­moil after President Trump announced the tar­iff scheme on E.U. prod­ucts on April 2^nd.

Table olives are the flag­ship prod­uct among all Greek agri­cul­tural exports to the United States. In value terms, they account for 27.4 per­cent of all Greek food and bev­er­age exports to the U.S.

According to Doepel, the Greek inter­pro­fes­sional asso­ci­a­tion of table olives, the 20 per­cent tar­iffs slapped on European prod­ucts imported to the U.S. could favor table olives pro­duc­ers based in coun­tries that are bur­dened with lower tar­iffs.

“The increase in the price of the prod­uct due to the tar­iffs and the com­par­a­tive advan­tage of other olive-pro­duc­ing coun­tries, such as Egypt, Turkey, Morocco and Latin America that are sub­ject to ten per­cent tar­iffs will affect the com­pet­i­tive­ness of Greek table olives in the U.S. and, by exten­sion, of our indus­try,” the inter­pro­fes­sional wrote in a let­ter to Olive OIl Times.

“The need for diplo­matic inter­ven­tion and sup­port is imper­a­tive for the pro­tec­tion of Greek exports and the sus­tain­abil­ity of the sec­tor,” the asso­ci­a­tion added.

Greece is also the sec­ond-largest sup­plier of table olives to the United States after Spain. In 2024, table olive exports from Greece to the U.S. reached €214 mil­lion, a 39 per­cent increase com­pared to 2023.

“The American mar­ket is the largest for Greek olives, absorb­ing 30 per­cent of the country’s table olive exports,” said Kostas Zoukas, head of the Greek Association of Manufacturers, Packers and Exporters of Table Olives (PEMETE). ​“Losing the U.S. mar­ket would be irre­place­able for the indus­try.”

Located near the city of Volos in cen­tral Greece, Siouras has exported Greek Kalamon and Chalkidiki olives to var­i­ous coun­tries, includ­ing the United States, since the 1930s.

Owner Haris Siouras said that the Greek olive sec­tor is in limbo after the tar­iffs were announced on the other side of the Atlantic.

“A ten-per­cent tar­iff on our olives is not neg­li­gi­ble, let alone a 20-per­cent added tax,” Siouras said. ​“For the time being, how­ever, most of our orders from the U.S. are being processed as per nor­mal.”

“The Kalamon olives we ship to the United States are not pro­duced there, so thrust­ing any tar­iffs on them has no real mean­ing,” he added.

Siouras also said that table olives have not yet become an essen­tial food for Americans, and the shrink­ing bud­get of American house­holds is a sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor to con­sider.

“Despite the fact that Americans are now more keen on adopt­ing a health­ier diet, they are likely to reduce how much they spend on table olives if they cost more,” he said.

“In any case, as soon as the tar­iffs were announced, our sec­tor started to look into ways for Greek olives to be exempted from the Trump tar­iffs,” Siouras con­cluded. ​“But we will have to wait until July when the 90-day tar­iff pause expires for any defin­i­tive results.”

• Kathimerini
• Elaias Karpos