Trump's tariffs are pressing olive oil producers : NPR

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Americans love olive oil. I mean, I sure do. And we consume more of it than any other country besides Italy. But the U.S. has to import 95% of its olive oil. And that demand has created a big opportunity for European olive oil producers. But now President Trump’s tariffs are complicating everything. NPR business correspondent Maria Aspan brings us the story of how one Italian small business is coping.

MARIA ASPAN, BYLINE: It’s a hot and sunny day in southern Tuscany, and I’m walking up a hill studded with olive trees.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS RUSTLING)

ROMAIN PIRO: Piano, piano. Slowly, slowly. We still have to clear all this, like, under the trees.

ASPAN: I’m getting a tour of the olive trees that the Piro siblings harvest every fall. Later, I catch up with Marie-Charlotte Piro over Zoom. She tells me that when her brother, Romain, first started making olive oil in Tuscany, he had a very artisanal business plan.

MARIE-CHARLOTTE PIRO: Make a few hundred bottles, stack them in his Volkswagen van, drive to Paris, knock on the back door of Michelin star restaurants and sell the olive oil in the alley.

ASPAN: And it worked.

M PIRO: It was fantastic. The chefs loved him. But of course, it was not a scalable business.

ASPAN: So six years ago, she came on board as his business partner and CEO, and their Olio Piro startup began exporting their olive oil exclusively to the United States. It went really well. Olio Piro’s won a bunch of awards for its olive oil, which has fans at some of New York’s top restaurants. Last year, the company did half a million dollars in sales, and it’s still growing. As Romain Piro told me, focusing on the United States was the right move.

R PIRO: One would be crazy not to export to the U.S. because it’s an amazing market. It’s huge. And they really want the best quality.

ASPAN: But now there’s a big new complication. Since early this year, President Trump has imposed stop and start tariffs on almost everything Americans import, including olive oil. That’s creating all kinds of problems for American cooks and the European companies they rely on. Domestic producers, mostly in California, only make about 5% of the olive oil consumed in the United States. Everything else comes from abroad, mostly Spain and Italy.

RANDY BURT: Olive oil has become essential to the American kitchen.

ASPAN: Randy Burt is with the consulting firm AlixPartners. And he warns that now that President Trump has seemingly finalized EU tariffs at 15%, Americans are going to see olive oil prices go up, which means that some shoppers will probably start cooking with something else, like sunflower or canola oil.

BURT: There are substitutes for olive oil. I mean, personally, I don’t think any of them are as good as olive oil, but that’s what happens when prices tick up.

ASPAN: If olive oil gets more expensive and Americans start buying less of it, the companies that sell it will need a backup plan. That’s why Olio Piro is pivoting. Early this year, as Trump started implementing tariffs, the Piro siblings decided they needed to find some new customers.

M PIRO: It was just so difficult. And we’re not the only one. We are the smallest player in this whole game.

ASPAN: Olio Piro is still selling olive oil in the United States, but now it’s expanding to other countries like Canada and Germany. And the founders say they’re excited about the new markets, even if the tariffs force them to scramble this year.

R PIRO: It’s a mess, of course, but it’s not a catastrophe. I mean, we’ll survive that.

ASPAN: But first they have to get through the next olive harvest this fall. And Romain Piro is eager to return to what he’s passionate about.

R PIRO: Making an olive oil that stays super tasty and healthy for more than six months. This is the real challenge.

ASPAN: So Olio Piro will continue adapting to the tariffs uncertainty while its founders wait for their olive trees to ripen again.

Maria Aspan, NPR News, Seggiano, Italy.

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