On Wednesday 21 February, the EU's agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) called on the United States to definitively abolish countervailing duties on Spanish black olives. Copa-Cogeca was reacting to the ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) confirming that Washington was still breaching the rules by imposing countervailing duties on Spanish olives (see EUROPE 13354/15).
“In addition to the substantial damage to the Spanish black olive sector, these tariffs have had an impact on rural areas, affecting the local economy and leading to hundreds of job losses”, the organisations say in a statement.
At this stage, the EU could legally use its 2021 regulation on compliance with trade rules to impose countermeasures on the US, as the latter has not complied with the original 2021 arbitration panel report.
However, according to a European source, the European Commission wishes to focus on bringing Washington into line for the time being. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)