NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States consumes more olive oil than any other country except Italy, but produces very little of it -- about 97 percent of the olive oil sold in the country is imported, most of it from Spain and Italy, a reason for Americans to fear that they may pay more if new tariffs are coming, reported The New York Times on Wednesday.

"President-elect Donald J. Trump's repeated vows to impose hefty tariffs on imported goods have unsettled the 14 billion U.S. dollars global industry," noted the report, adding that Trump sees tariffs as a twin-engine machine that can be used both to protect American businesses from competition and to punish uncooperative trading partners -- and he has used them against European olive oil producers before.

Many olive oil producers say tariffs will force them to raise prices at a time when Americans are already reeling from inflation at the grocery store, said the report. Since 2021, the average price of a liter of olive oil at an American supermarket has nearly doubled, from about 10 U.S. dollars per liter to nearly 20 dollars, according to the Nielsen research firm.

During Trump's first administration, olive oil bottled in Spain, which supplies nearly half of the world's olive oil, was subject to a 25 percent tariff as part of a continuing trade dispute. Under President Joe Biden, that tariff was suspended in 2021, but could be reinstated. Enditem

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