Trump’s tariff war threatens Valencian agri-food exports to the US
The tariff war carried out by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, could have serious consequences for the agricultural sector of the Valencian Community and other sectors in the case of being confirmed, according to the complaint by LA UNIÓ de Llauradors that has had access to the different processes of public information made by the US authorities to then impose tariffs of up to 100% on a large number of products.
Trump intends to react to the public aid that the European Union grants to Airbus aeronautics with the imposition of tariffs worth 11,000 million euros. A total of 413 products that would have tariffs are included in the three listings currently being handled; among which 147, 36% of them, correspond to the agri-food sector. Among the most important agri-food products to which tariffs would be imposed are citrus fruits, fruits, wines, oils, pig products, dairy products, among others.
Two public announcements have already been made by the US authorities. One, on April 12, which has already concluded its public hearing and from which came a first list to tax with tariffs that included citrus, oil and wine. Subsequently, on July 5, there was another announcement with a new complementary list in which it was mainly completed with pig products. This hearing has not yet been held and the allegations period ends next Monday.
After completing the entire process, a definitive list of products will be obtained and presented to the World Trade Organization (WTO), who must mediate the conflict and give an opinion on the matter.
As LA UNIÓ de Llauradors has learned, the mere fact of submitting this list to public hearing to impose fees has already caused concern among cooperatives, businesses and companies of the Valencian Community that routinely export to the United States, since there is a logical uncertainty to know what What can happen in the future. Even some of them consider interrupting exports to that country.
Carles Peris, general secretary of LA UNIÓ de Llauradors, indicates that “the growing globalization and geopolitical interests do nothing but destabilize our sector and our productions. We have the case of the Russian veto that we still suffer, the agreements with third countries and now we find the war between the United States and the European Union. ”
Peris affirms that “the political leaders of the Spanish Government and the European Union must act responsibly to defend our interests and act with transparency and inform the sectors affected by this decision to react in time. It cannot be that we find out through the media or the twitter of Donald Trump. ”
Precisely the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has also threatened Twitter to impose fees on French wines, and by extension on Europeans – including Spaniards – for the tax on digital services proposed by France and other EU countries, Among which is Spain. On July 25, Trump issued a tweet in which he said “I’ve always said that American wine is better than French!”
