Spanish olives under US tariff attack, like steel, need protection

In January, the US Department of Commerce imposed an unjustified anti-dumping customs duty on Spanish olives of more than 17.13 %, following a countervailing duty established in November 2017 of 4.47%. The European Parliament votes today on a Motion for a Resolution denouncing that those duties imposed by the USA after a preliminary investigation put the agricultural European subsidies regime, which is in line with the WTO, into question.

"Among the many similar trading procedures that the US has opened against European exports, this one is especially worrying since the USA is questioning the CAP legislation", said Esther Herranz MEP, EPP Group Member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.

"This measure hits Andalusia in particular, which is heavily penalised by the economic crisis", she stressed. “The increase of the Spanish sector’s competitiveness results from the efforts made by manufactures to reduce costs by means of investments in cutting-edge technology and not as a consequence of the European subsidies.”

"It is deeply worrying that the USA is not respecting WTO rules. There is a strong fear that after Spanish olives, the next custom duties of the Trump governance may point to any European sector: French cheeses, Italian wines or German sausages could be targeted next."

"We have to give a strong response to America's action and not just turn the other cheek", Herranz concluded.