Spain Asks U.S. to Remove Olive Oil Tariffs

Summary

Spain’s Minister of Economy has requested that the U.S. exempt olive oil and other Spanish prod­ucts from the 15 per­cent tar­iff on EU imports, argu­ing it would ben­e­fit both Spanish pro­duc­ers and American con­sumers. Despite con­cerns over the impact of the tar­iffs on olive oil exports to the U.S., indus­try experts believe the long-term trend of grow­ing U.S. con­sump­tion and demand for Spanish olive oil will out­weigh the short-term obsta­cles posed by the tar­iffs.

Spain’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Business has asked the United States to exempt olive oil and other prod­ucts ​“impor­tant to Spain” from the 15 per­cent tar­iff the U.S. has imposed on European Union imports.

Carlos Cuerpo requested talks with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the side­lines of a broader meet­ing between European min­is­ters and U.S. offi­cials to imple­ment the trade agree­ment reached ear­lier this year.

Cuerpo later told local media that adding olive oil to the list of tar­iff-exempt prod­ucts would sup­port Spanish pro­duc­ers and ben­e­fit American con­sumers, not­ing that the world’s sec­ond-largest olive oil mar­ket pro­duces only enough oil to cover about two per­cent of domes­tic demand.

The impact of the tar­iffs has been dif­fi­cult to iso­late from recent pro­duc­tion swings and price volatil­ity, cre­at­ing a murky pic­ture for ana­lysts and pro­duc­ers.

In September, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s olive oil for­eign trade bul­letin showed that export vol­umes to the U.S. rose more than 14 per­cent in the first eight months of the 2024/25 crop year, which began in October. Even so, export val­ues fell by roughly 50 per­cent.

The Coordinator of Farmers’ and Ranchers’ Organizations (COAG), Spain’s old­est national agri­cul­tural asso­ci­a­tion, said spec­u­la­tion about the 2025/26 har­vest and falling prices at ori­gin were pri­mar­ily respon­si­ble for the drop in export rev­enues.

Spain’s rebound har­vest in 2024/25 has also boosted export vol­umes after two his­tor­i­cally poor sea­sons in 2022/23 and 2023/24, which sharply reduced ship­ments abroad.

“It’s illog­i­cal to try to blame U.S. tar­iffs for the eco­nomic losses,” said Francisco Elvira, sec­re­tary-gen­eral of COAG Jaén. ​“The truth is that export vol­ume has increased, and the prof­itabil­ity dif­fi­cul­ties are due to an inter­na­tional drop in prices.”

Still, sep­a­rate data ana­lyzed by the Spanish news­pa­per El Economista sug­gests the tar­iffs’ effects may begin to show as the new har­vest starts. According to the out­let, olive oil exports to the U.S. fell 31 per­cent in June 2025 com­pared with the pre­vi­ous year.

The decline is widely attrib­uted to importers front­load­ing ship­ments ahead of the tariff’s intro­duc­tion, a trend some indus­try observers believe could con­tinue into 2026.

Producers and exporters also worry that even if olive oil is even­tu­ally added to the tar­iff-exempt list, the dam­age may linger. They fear U.S. buy­ers could shift to alter­na­tive sup­pli­ers in Morocco, and, to a lesser extent, in Argentina and Chile, all of which face a 10 per­cent tar­iff.

There is fur­ther con­cern that mar­ket pen­e­tra­tion will weaken as U.S. retail prices are not expected to fall in line with declin­ing prices at ori­gin.

Joseph R. Profaci, the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the North American Olive Oil Association, told ABC Sevilla that tar­iffs are keep­ing U.S. prices from eas­ing.

“This year, we expect a very pro­duc­tive har­vest, but prices won’t fall due to the tar­iffs,” he said. ​“This will sup­press the antic­i­pated growth in con­sump­tion; com­mu­ni­ties and house­holds earn­ing less than $70,000 a year will buy less.”

Rafael Pico Lapuente, head of inter­na­tional pro­mo­tion at the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional Organization, views the tar­iffs as a short-term obsta­cle within a longer-term trend of grow­ing U.S. con­sump­tion and ris­ing demand for Spanish olive oil.

“We antic­i­pate it will always have some impact on Spanish exports to the U.S., but I don’t think it will be too sig­nif­i­cant,” he told ABC Sevilla, not­ing that all major pro­duc­ers face com­pa­ra­ble tar­iffs.

“Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal have a 15 per­cent tar­iff, as does Turkey, while Tunisia has 25 per­cent,” he added. ​“Syria has 41 per­cent, and coun­tries with a ten per­cent tar­iff, such as Australia, Chile and Argentina, have much more expen­sive oil.”