Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-05-27)

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Bloomberg Businessweek May 27, 2019

Edited by

CristinaLindblad

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY 731; PHOTOS: ALAMY (2), GETTY IMAGES (1)

TheU.S.andChinaoccupycenter stage in the

tradedramarightnow,asportfolio managers and

economistsscrambletoassessthe effects of Trump’s

latesttariffhikeandBeijing’sretaliation. Amid such

high stakes, the olive tussle has barely been a blip.

But it’s sent shock waves through southern Spain,

where unemployment is already more than 20%.

“The motto is ‘America First,’ and nothing else mat-

ters,” says Antonio de Mora, secretary general of the

Spanish table olive association, Asemesa.

Spanish farmers say the assistance they receive

from Madrid and the European Union is legal.

They’veaccusedtheirU.S.competitorsofopportu-

nisticallyseizingonthepresenceofa protectionist

The fighter jets roaring above Joaquín García as he

strolls among the 8,000 trees on his family farm

in southern Spain are a reminder of the battle the

U.S. is waging against his cash crop. García grows

olives—one more product ensnared in the dragnet of

President Trump’s trade wars—in groves bordering

the Morón Air Base, which hosts hundreds of U.S.

military personnel and their families. He and oth-

ers here say they’ve long seen the base as a symbol

of the close ties between Washington and Madrid.

That relationship is being put to the test after

Trump slapped a 35% tariff on black Spanish table

olives following complaints by American growers

that Madrid unfairly subsidizes its industry. Spain

is the world’s largest producer of the olives—used

mainly as a topping for pizzas and salads—exporting

€370 million ($413 million) worth in 2017. “If we

are allies, we would be allies for everything,” says

García, who’s been forced to let some of his work-

ers go to compensate for lost sales.

○ A 35% duty on Spanish black

olives has an ally seeing red

Trump Puts

Tariffs on

Pizza Toppings

E C O N O M I C S