特朗普向西班牙发动贸易战，美国人的餐桌也要遭殃？

随着美国总统唐纳德·特朗普采取强硬手段扩大贸易保护范围，从中国的钢铁、加拿大的木材到西班牙的食用橄榄都列入盯防对象，爱吃零食的美国人享受美食的机会将不可避免受到影响。

美国商务部正调查西班牙是否向美国市场倾销橄榄，西班牙橄榄口感温和，味道略偏干，主要用来做三明治、沙拉和披萨。支持本地区生产商的欧盟委员会已出手干预，欧洲大陆主要农场游说团体也批评不断。

近日,在投票中，美国国际贸易委员会一致通过，将与商务部同步展开调查。调查结束后，今年晚些时候美国政府可能对西班牙产橄榄征收惩罚性关税，可能导致进口停滞。

上述调查是美国扩大贸易保护范围的最新举措，其针对产品包括钢铁、铝，也包括乳制品、木材和玉米，相对来说食用橄榄市场很小。但对西班牙这个全球最大食用橄榄生产国而言，美国是最大的客户，也是最重要的市场，对美出口量占橄榄总出口量的24%。

欧洲生产商认为，此番受调查针对很不公平，美国农场主则认为西班牙是国内产业的巨大威胁。美国几乎所有橄榄都产自加州，从加州成立之初就已有种植。

“我的三个儿子都在种橄榄，长孙也有意继承祖业，”69岁的加州种植园主丹尼斯·布勒森说，“种橄榄是一种梦想。可现在我们对梦想会不会成真已经没了把握。”布勒森在加州奇科市附近种有4万棵橄榄树。

上月美国商务部表示，将调查西班牙向美国出口的所谓熟橄榄是否存在低于合理价格倾销行为。当时商务部部长威尔伯·罗斯在声明中提到，美国“将迅速行动，制止一切不公平的贸易行为。”

虽然橄榄市场比木材和钢铁小得多，但美国极为依赖进口橄榄。去年美国从国外购买了16.7万公吨橄榄，几乎一半来自自西班牙，其他来源还包括希腊、墨西哥和摩洛哥。

该调查启动的原因是，今年6月美国熟橄榄公平贸易联合会提出申诉。该行业组织代表的两家会员Bell-Carter Foods Inc.和Musco Family Olive Co.认为，过去几十年里欧洲国家一直提供补贴，西班牙产橄榄才能在美国零售市场份额持续增加，同期美国橄榄业销售则加速下滑。

美国国内仅有不到900家农场种植食用橄榄，多家正在减产。布勒森的橄榄树占地约162万平方米，是规模较大的之一。八个月前，他的橄榄种植面积也减少了十分之一。Bell-Carter Foods的首席执行官蒂姆·卡特说，这意味着，加工橄榄的供应量减少。Bell-Carter Foods是美国仅存的两家橄榄加工企业之一，半个世纪以前加工企业有20多家。

“我们已经走到生死关头。”卡特接受采访时说。

对西班牙来说，美国是最关键的市场。西班牙食用橄榄出口商协会Asemesa预计，如果美国采取限制措施，未来五年西班牙橄榄产业可能会损失3.5亿欧元（约合4.14亿美元）。

Asemesa的秘书长安东尼奥·德莫拉指出，美国生产商希望通过起诉打击西班牙进口橄榄从而赢得竞争，但最终会伤害美国消费者。他说，本次起诉打击的范围不仅包括橄榄，还令欧盟“统一农业政策的基础受到质疑。”

一位欧盟委员会发言人在回应称，自美方起诉以来，欧盟委员会一直跟进此案进展，向西班牙生产商提供法律支持。该发言人称，“欧盟委员会已经介入，将捍卫西班牙生产商遵循世界贸易组织规定向美国出口的权力。”

28个欧盟成员国的农民协会组织Copa Cogeca警告，美国启动此项调查之后，也可能在其他领域向其他欧盟贸易伙伴国动手。

该组织秘书长佩卡·佩松恩通过声明表示：“Copa and Cogeca认为，美国作为欧盟农产品主要出口市场，如果今后可以无正当理由就对我们的农产品采取保护主义措施，这是不可接受的。”（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

American snack lovers may find President Donald Trump’s tough-on-trade policies encroaching a little close to home as the U.S. widens its gaze from Chinese steel and Canadian lumber to Spanish table olives.

The Commerce Department is investigating whether Spain is dumping its olives -- specifically the mild, slightly drier black types used in sandwiches, salads and pizzas -- on the U.S. market. The move has prompted intervention by the European Commission in support of its producers and drawn criticism from the continent’s main farming lobby.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, which is investigating the claim in tandem with Commerce, voted unanimously to proceed with the inquiry. The investigation may result in punitive tariffs later this year that could pull the plug on Spanish olive imports.

The probe is the latest in a growing list of products being targeted by the U.S., ranging from steel and aluminum to dairy, lumber and corn. The market is tiny by comparison. Yet for Spain, the world’s biggest producer, the U.S. represents a crucial market as its top customer, accounting for 24 percent of the nation’s olive exports.

While European producers argue they’re being unfairly targeted, U.S. farmers see Spain as an existential threat to an industry that’s as old as California, where almost all U.S. olives are grown.

"My three sons are all farming olives, and my oldest grandson is interested too," said Dennis Burreson, 69, who cultivates 40,000 olive trees near Chico, California. "That’s kind of the dream, but it’s getting to the point where you don’t know if the dream will be real."

The Commerce Department said last month it was looking into whether the Spanish imports of so-called ripe olives are being dumped in the U.S. market at less than fair value. The U.S. "will act swiftly to halt any unfair trade practices,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement at the time.

While the olive market is much smaller than lumber or steel, the U.S. relies heavily on imports. The country bought 167,000 metric tons of foreign olives last year, almost half of which came from Spain. The U.S. also imports olives from countries including Greece, Mexico and Morocco.

The investigation followed a June complaint filed by the Coalition for Fair Trade in Ripe Olives on behalf of its two members, Bell-Carter Foods Inc. and Musco Family Olive Co. They argue that a decades-long industry decline has been accelerated by European subsidies that allowed Spanish olives to take more of the domestic retail market share.

Fewer than 900 table-olive farmers remain in the U.S., and many that are left are decreasing production. Burreson, who at 400 acres of trees is one of the larger farmers, pulled out 40 acres of olives eight months ago. That means less supply for processing, said Tim Carter, chief executive officer of Bell-Carter Foods, one of two processors still in business compared with more than 20 a half-century ago.

"This has become a matter of our survival," he said in an interview.

For Spain, the U.S. is a crucial market and the potential restrictions could cost the local industry 350 million euros ($414 million) within five years, according to exporters association Asemesa.

U.S. producers are using the complaint to try to eliminate the competition that the exports of the Spanish operators pose, which would hurt American consumers, said Asemesa Secretary General Antonio de Mora. The complaint also reaches beyond just olives, as it “calls into question the basic pillars of the common agricultural policy” of the EU, he said.

The European Commission has followed the case since the complaint was made and is providing Spanish producers with legal support, a spokesperson said in response to questions. "The European Commission is intervening to defend the rights of the Spanish producers to export to the U.S. in line with the World Trade Organization rules," he said.

The U.S. investigation could set a precedent for other sectors and EU trade partners, the 28-member trade bloc’s farming lobby warned.

"Copa and Cogeca consider it unacceptable that the main EU agri-food export market -- the U.S. -- can impose protectionist measures against our products without justification," the group’s secretary general, Pekka Pesonen, said in a statement.