WTO Decision Backs Spain in Ongoing Table Olive Trade Dispute with U.S.

Summary

The WTO has autho­rized the European Union to impose trade sanc­tions of up to €12.7 mil­lion per year against the United States due to ille­gal tar­iffs on Spanish black table olives, falling between the EU’s request for €31.5 mil­lion and the U.S.‘s argu­ment for €6.1 mil­lion. The EU is expected to request autho­riza­tion to sus­pend trade ben­e­fits granted to the U.S., focus­ing on sec­tors with polit­i­cal or eco­nomic lever­age while avoid­ing goods essen­tial to European con­sumers or indus­tries.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has autho­rized the European Union to impose trade sanc­tions of up to €12.7 mil­lion per year against the United States to com­pen­sate for losses incurred due to ille­gal tar­iffs on Spanish black table olives.

In its arbi­tra­tion deci­sion, the WTO estab­lished the max­i­mum value of autho­rized coun­ter­mea­sures fol­low­ing a 2024 com­pli­ance review, which con­firmed that Washington had failed to cor­rect mea­sures pre­vi­ously ruled incon­sis­tent with inter­na­tional trade rules.

The European Union had sought autho­riza­tion for €31.5 mil­lion in annual com­pen­sa­tion, while the United States argued that any amount above €6.1 mil­lion would be exces­sive. The WTO’s final fig­ure fell between the two esti­mates.

The deci­sion fol­lows a pre­vi­ous WTO rul­ing that found the U.S. had not com­plied with orders to remove its duties on Spanish black table olive imports.

The European Commission is now expected to for­mally request autho­riza­tion from the WTO Dispute Settlement Body to sus­pend trade ben­e­fits granted to the United States for an equiv­a­lent amount. Such retal­i­a­tion typ­i­cally involves rais­ing tar­iffs or impos­ing new restric­tions on U.S. goods or ser­vices enter­ing the European mar­ket.

The pro­ce­dure to deter­mine which prod­ucts will be affected is expected to take sev­eral weeks. EU offi­cials are likely to focus on sec­tors with polit­i­cal or eco­nomic lever­age — such as exports from key U.S. swing states — while avoid­ing goods essen­tial to European con­sumers or indus­tries.

Spanish exporters have urged Brussels to act swiftly. ​“We need the European Union to respond deci­sively after the WTO rul­ing,” said rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Spanish Association of Table Olive Exporters (Asemesa) in com­ments reported by Reuters.

Since the intro­duc­tion of U.S. tar­iffs in 2018, the total duties on Spanish black table olives have reached 46 per­cent, includ­ing a 15 per­cent tar­iff on European exports. Spain’s mar­ket share in the U.S. has fallen to below 20 per­cent — less than half of what it was before the mea­sures took effect.

Asemesa said the WTO rul­ing rep­re­sents a ​“firm sup­port for the claims of Spain and the table olive sec­tor, which since the begin­ning of the con­flict has defended the full legal­ity of European agri­cul­tural aid and the need to restore fair com­pe­ti­tion con­di­tions,” accord­ing to Agrodiario.

The asso­ci­a­tion esti­mates losses for the indus­try at €260 mil­lion since the tar­iffs were imposed, warn­ing that the long-term ero­sion of U.S. mar­ket share could drive that fig­ure sig­nif­i­cantly higher.

The United States first intro­duced duties on Spanish olives in 2018, claim­ing they ben­e­fited from unfair sub­si­dies under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. The WTO later ruled that the claim was unfounded and that Washington had vio­lated global trade rules by main­tain­ing the tar­iffs.

Despite mul­ti­ple WTO find­ings against the mea­sures, U.S. author­i­ties have sig­naled no inten­tion of lift­ing them. ​“The WTO deci­sion does not dis­turb the U.S. antidump­ing and coun­ter­vail­ing duty orders on ripe olives from Spain, which will con­tinue to pro­vide relief for U.S. pro­duc­ers from unfairly traded imports,” an offi­cial from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said fol­low­ing the rul­ing.