US Tariffs on Italian Olive Oil Will Not Rise, for Now

Summary

Italian agri­cul­tural prod­ucts such as olive oil and wine will not face new tar­iffs when imported to the U.S. due to nego­ti­a­tions between Washington and Rome after the WTO deci­sion on the Boeing-Airbus con­tro­versy. The USTR has decided to spare these prod­ucts from new tar­iffs, while con­tin­u­ing to review the tar­iff scheme every few months to ensure Italian agri­cul­tural excel­lence is not neg­a­tively impacted.

High-qual­ity olive oil, as well as wine and sev­eral other typ­i­cal and renowned prod­ucts of Italian agri­cul­ture can be imported in the U.S. with no new tar­iffs applied by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

“The most rel­e­vant prod­ucts of the Italian agri­cul­ture indus­try will not be sub­jected to new tar­iffs imposed by the U.S. Government on European prod­ucts after the WTO deci­sion on the Boeing-Airbus con­tro­versy,” the Italian min­is­ter of for­eign affairs, Luigi Di Maio, con­firmed just a few hours ago after the lat­est round of nego­ti­a­tions between Washington and Rome.

No vari­a­tions will be imposed in a tar­iff sys­tem that in the last few months already hit most European exports. While sev­eral typ­i­cal cheeses pro­duced and exported by Italy will still be sub­jected to those tar­iffs, twenty-five per­cent ad val­orem, Italian olive oil, wine and pasta for at least the next few months will not.

The USTR is expected to look every few months at the tar­iffs imposed last October, so the February review had been at the cen­ter of many nego­ti­a­tion tables amid con­cerns by sev­eral European coun­tries that they would be affected.

In this lat­est USTR note, the Representative explained that the United States is ​“increas­ing the addi­tional duty rate imposed on air­craft imported from the E.U. to 15 per­cent from 10 per­cent, effec­tive March 18, 2020, and mak­ing cer­tain other minor mod­i­fi­ca­tions.” Those mod­i­fi­ca­tions are lim­ited to the lift­ing of tar­iffs on European prune juice and impos­ing new tar­iffs on some French and German kitchen knives.

While U.S. trade offi­cials warn that a future deci­sion on tar­iffs could involve prod­ucts that were not included in this last review, Italians appear con­fi­dent their most rel­e­vant agri­cul­tural prod­ucts will con­tinue to be spared.

“In the many meet­ings we had with our American coun­ter­parts in the last few months,” said the Italian agri­cul­ture under­sec­re­tary Ivan Scalfarotto, ​“we had the chance to out­line that Italy has no part in the Airbus con­sor­tium which is at the core of the WTO deci­sion and that there­fore our prod­ucts should not be con­sid­ered by Washington for the tar­iffs retal­i­a­tion that the WTO deci­sion made legal.”

USTR will review the actual tar­iff scheme next August. ​“Our most rel­e­vant agri­cul­tural prod­ucts will not undergo irrecov­er­able dam­age,” said the Italian Minister of Agricultural Affairs Teresa Bellanova. ​“In the meet­ing, we had with the American sec­re­tary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue last January 30^th in Rome, we pressed to keep the agri­cul­tural Italian excel­lence out of the Airbus affair and our con­cern was met with thought­ful under­stand­ing.”

• USTR note on tar­iffs


• Italian Agriculture Ministry note