The United States must facilitate imports of olives from the European Union. This was decided by a committee of the World Trade Organization. This is good news, especially for Spain’s olive producers.
In the dispute over Spanish olives that are to be exported to the USA, the European Union has won a dispute with the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Last night, the WTO released a report that a committee of the organization found that the US had not fully implemented a previous ruling on the matter.
Special tariffs not sufficiently reduced
The USA introduced special tariffs on ripe olives in 2018. The EU successfully defended itself against this in 2021. Their argument: The US regulations are incompatible with WTO law.
The United States promised to adjust. In the EU’s view, however, this was not sufficient and the measures to import olives still did not comply with WTO law. The WTO committee has now confirmed this view.
The EU welcomed the ruling in Brussels. EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis called on the USA to now fully implement the ruling. The United States can still appeal the ruling.
Spain as the most important supplier
Spain in particular suffered from the US restrictions. Before the tariffs were imposed, Spain was the largest exporter of ripe olives to the US – with a trade volume of $67 million in 2017. In 2022, Spanish exports of ripe olives to the US only totaled $20 million.
Spain is also the largest supplier of olive oil in the world. Almost half of the olive oil consumed worldwide comes from the southern European country. Looking at consumption in the EU, Spanish production even accounts for 70 percent. If the harvest volume there is low, it has far-reaching consequences. Recently, poor harvests have caused olive oil prices to rise dramatically in Germany.