(Bloomberg) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will ask President Joe Biden to scrap Trump-era duties on his country’s olives that have strained trade ties between the US and European Union.
(Bloomberg) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will ask President Joe Biden to scrap Trump-era duties on his country’s olives that have strained trade ties between the US and European Union.
In his first official visit to the White House since he took office in 2018, Sanchez will appeal to Biden to remove the tariffs and put an end to a dispute that has dragged on for years, according to two people familiar with his plans.
The leaders will also discuss the war in Ukraine, bilateral defense cooperation and climate change when they meet on Friday, the people said.
Spokespeople for Sanchez’s office and for the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spain, the world’s top olive producer, has demanded that Washington lift the anti-subsidy duties, which a World Trade Organization trade panel deemed illegal in 2021.
Spanish olive exports to the U.S. plunged after the Trump administration in 2018 imposed import taxes on products it deemed to be subsidized with trade-distorting aid from the EU.
In April, the 27-nation bloc launched compliance proceedings against Washington at the WTO for failing to remove the duties, which are some of the last remaining Trump-era trade measures against the EU.
Earlier this year, the US reduced the tariff from 35% to 31% in an attempt to comply with the panel’s ruling.
A Spanish olive lobby group said Spain and the EU should step up diplomatic pressure on the US to quickly drop the tariffs, which have cost the industry over €230 million ($252 million) to date in lost exports to its top market.
“Another panel resolution could take months, and we need a solution now,” Antonio de Mora, the secretary general of the Spanish Association of Olive Exporters and Industrialists, said by phone.
“This is a golden opportunity to settle the matter.”
Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas urged his US counterpart, Tom Vilsack, for the removal of the tariffs during a meeting Tuesday in Washington, Planas said in a statement to Bloomberg
“This has dragged on for too long and it worries us,” Planas said by email, following his meeting.
–With assistance from Jenny Leonard.
(Adds Spanish agriculture minister comments in last two paragraphs)
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