President of the Government pedro sanchez and the US President, Joe Biden Agreed that technical teams from both countries should meet “as soon as possible” to move forward Contaminated land cleanup process in Palomares (Almería), have also celebrated The “receptivity” shown by Biden to the issue of tariffs on black olives.
These were the two questions Sanchez wanted to raise with Biden in their meeting at the White House, and in the former case it raised the most hopes because it was a a problem that has been going on for almost six decades and in the other case by major economic impact that it is for the olive field. However, the President has not managed to start No firm commitment.
Regarding Palomares, where a 1966 crash between two American planes and the dropping of four thermonuclear bombs resulted in plutonium contamination, Sánchez explained that the main “advance” is that the two gave instructions so that “The technical teams meet as soon as possible so that once and for all we can drain these contaminated land and be able to get them out of Spain.”
The President insisted that the meeting be revealed “will solve this problem” and expressed confidence that this would make it possible patch up “Therefore Last this issue”, without going into more detail about possible deadlines.
Sánchez thus confirmed what Foreign Minister Antony Blinken had announced on Wednesday after a meeting with the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albarés, who said that Talks on the issue were to be resumed “soon”.
The government sent a formal request through the State Department to the Biden administration last March to proceed with the removal of the contaminated land, as announced by Mariano Rajoy in Moncloa and Barack Obama in White in 2015. Home.
In October 2015, the then-Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Secretary of State, José Manuel García-Margalo, signed a Declaration of Intent in Madrid, in which both countries committed to a “major resettlement” of the area around Palomares. Transfer of contaminated soil to an “appropriate location” in the United States.
Receptivity to black olives
With regard to tariffs on black olives, “an element of friction in the relationship that I would describe as extraordinary”, Sanchez explained that he found “receptivity” in Biden, while recalling that “it’s such an issue Which is now in the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has become clear”.
,I’ve found receptivity on the part of the Biden administration to be able to address this issue,” he said. recalling that it is “one of the controversies” that draws from the previous administration of Donald Trump.
United States imposed a Tariff Did 35% to black olives in 2018 And despite the fact that the World Trade Organization ruled in 2021 that it was illegal, Washington has yet to reverse the measure. Last March, the agriculture minister, Luis Planas, said he was going to ask the European Commission to bring the issue of GMOs to the fore again, as powers in commercial matters have been handed over to Brussels.
