European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan is to speak to his US counterpart, Sonny Perdue, on the sidelines of the G7 agriculture ministers' meeting in Bergamo, Italy, on Saturday 14 October about the EU's concerns regarding the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation opened by the US in July against Spain's exports of black olives (see EUROPE 11849).
Spain brought the issue up at the EU agriculture ministers' meeting on 9 October, and it was also discussed in the European Parliament's agriculture committee on 10 October. Like the European Commission and the EU member states, the agriculture committee MEPs fear that this procedure may serve as a precedent for US President Donald Trump taking measures against other products.
In a letter to US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on 22 September, Hogan and European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström say they are concerned that Washington is targeting the EU's green box subsidies, although the US makes massive use of this type of subsidy in the agriculture sector.
The US Department of Trade is due to take a preliminary decision on 20 November on setting up compensatory taxes against Spanish olives, and a final decision would then follow.
In response to a written question from the European Parliament in early October, Malmström stated that in the Commission's view the support schemes targeted by the US investigations are completely compatible with WTO rules.
Malmström also gave assurances of the Commission's continued support to the authorities and companies affected, in order to avoid the imposition of US compensatory taxes. She promised the EU would take a decision on appropriate action should the US decide to adopt these measures. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)