Spain’s Sanchez says Biden open to solving olive tariff dispute

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said President Joe Biden was open to a request to remove Trump-era duties on his country’s black olives.

“I have found receptivity to be able to solve this issue,” Sanchez told reporters after meeting Biden in Washington on Friday. 

Spain is the world’s top olive producer but its exports of the fruit to the US fell sharply after President Donald Trump’s administration in 2018 imposed import taxes on products it deemed to be receiving unfair subsidies.

The dispute has strained trade ties between Europe and the United States. The European Union has urged Washington to remove the tariff, which a World Trade Organization panel in 2021 found to be illegal. In April, the bloc began a new WTO proceeding, raising pressure on the Biden administration to end the dispute.

Sanchez also said he and Biden were aligned in their support for Ukraine with Russia’s invasion now in its second year. The socialist prime minister said any blueprint for peace must be backed by Kyiv and insure Ukraine’s territorial integrity.