Por Redaccion 
The Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz; the Minister of Economy, Finance, and European Funds, Carolina España; the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco; and the Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines, Jorge Paradela, held a meeting in San Telmo with the president of the CEA, Javier González de Lara; the general secretary of UGT Andalucía, Óskar Martín, and the general secretary of CCOO Andalucía, Nuria López, at the Social Dialogue table to discuss United States tariffs on Europe. After the meeting, the participants conveyed a message of unity, prudence, and temperance while advocating for a collective strategy to address the challenges that may arise from the imposition of tariffs.
Antonio Sanz recalled that the Andalusian government «has always supported Social Dialogue» and expressed confidence that «together we will provide solutions to mitigate the negative effects of the decisions of the US government.»
The Minister called for «a moment of politics with a capital P,» which can only be achieved through collaboration and coordination between the central government and the autonomous communities. In this regard, he affirmed that «Andalusia will continue to offer maximum collaboration and loyalty to the Spanish Government» and emphasized that «unity is the best tool to face the situation.»
Antonio Sanz argued that «Andalusia advocates for the European Union to offer a strong response to safeguard the interests of all its members», while also stressing the need to «avoid at all costs that this conflict escalates into a trade war,» warning that «tariffs do not only affect agricultural sectors» and alerting that «a trade war and the imposition of tariffs will impact not only companies, but also inflation, employment, and the Andalusian GDP», directly compromising «the progress and well-being of the Andalusian people.»
The Minister also announced that the Andalusian government will promote «support for the internationalization of our companies», with specific measures for the most affected sectors, such as agri-food, as well as the search for «alternative markets» due to the difficulties of accessing the US market.
On the other hand, the Minister of Economy, Finance, and European Funds, Carolina España, provided an assessment of the impact of tariffs on Andalusian exports during the first four months of the year. The main product exported to the US continues to be olive oil (€259.8 million in the first four months of 2025, 28% of all exports from Andalusia to the US), with a 12.1% year-on-year decrease compared to the previous year’s first four months, explained by the price reduction, while volume has increased significantly (45.2%).
Carolina España emphasized that the data confirms that Andalusia «has done its homework» since the beginning of the legislature, allowing Andalusian companies to have been exploring alternative markets for some time within the strategy implemented by the Junta, alongside Andalucía Trade, for the strengthening and development of the Andalusian business fabric.
In this sense, she highlighted that Trade has reinforced promotional activities both in the US and in alternative markets, including an olive table campaign in India, and praised the good pace of the Commercial Intelligence service, which has increased by sevenfold the requests handled compared to the beginning of the year. Along the same lines, the Minister highlighted the monitoring that the Junta maintains on the affected sectors, with meetings with the main exporting companies in each area, aligning the tools implemented with the real needs of the productive fabric.
Furthermore, Carolina España recalled the imminent approval of a new line of incentives for internationalization through Andalucía Trade, aimed at enabling Andalusian companies to participate in commercial missions, fairs in new destinations.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, also expressed concern about the impact that an increase in tariffs by the United States on Andalusian agri-food products, especially olive oil, would have, the most exported product to that country, with almost 59,700 tons and €860 million in exports in 2024, and table olives which exported €164 million in the same year, would be severely affected by a new tariff pressure, leading to their exit from the market.
In this regard, Agriculture has emphasized the need to eliminate these tariffs, which it describes as «unjust» and would economically impact Andalusian producers, who are a source of wealth for the autonomous community. While awaiting a balanced agreement between the European Union and the United States, the Ministry has activated several measures to support the profitability of the sectors that would be most affected and requests from the Spanish Government a more proactive diplomacy in negotiation and policies oriented towards the olive sector, such as those led by the Junta de Andalucía.
Finally, the Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mines, Jorge Paradela, highlighted the industrial policy that the Junta government has been developing with a 2030 horizon to «address the different scenarios that arise in the short, medium, and long term.»
Only in the field of the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mines, have financial support instruments exceeding €700 million been provided for this year 2025, aimed at supporting industrial and mining activity.
Jorge Paradela highlighted among these instruments «a novel line of integrated incentives for competitiveness and energy for industrial value chains, sustainable mining, and production spaces, endowed with €250 million.»
Additionally, he noted that the Complementary Incentives to Regional Economic Incentives (IER) for tractor projects in the manufacturing, aerospace, and advanced logistics industries have €150 million, and another €157 million in aid has been made available to the industrial fabric to boost ten tractor projects through the Just Transition Fund for the provinces of Almería, Córdoba, and Cádiz in strategic sectors such as naval, aerospace, green hydrogen, sustainable aviation, or advanced logistics.
The president of CEA, Javier González de Lara, conveyed the main concerns of the sectors and stated that, «in this situation, a joint and coordinated action is essential to protect the Andalusian business fabric,» while also issuing a «call for a coordinated response.»
The employers’ organization has urged the Junta de Andalucía to strengthen its joint action with Madrid and Brussels, activating all available mechanisms to defend Andalusian interests, offering exporting companies support measures focused on liquidity, international promotion, and market diversification. «Andalusia today more than ever needs the determined support of its institutions to protect decades of export capacity,» emphasized González de Lara.
On the other hand, the general secretary of UGT Andalucía, Óskar Martín, has proposed to the Andalusian government a series of urgent measures to protect Andalusian employment from US tariffs, such as creating a commercial contingency fund to provide liquidity to exporting companies, a selective tax moratorium on regional taxes, a monitoring table with union and institutional participation, and a market diversification plan towards countries such as Canada, Japan, and Latin America, in addition to the possibility of conducting an international campaign to promote Andalusian products as a synonym for quality and social responsibility.
In the medium term, Óskar Martín advocated for «a sustainable reindustrialization strategy that promotes sectors such as green economy and renewable energies, along with the modernization of agribusiness through digitization and added value», while stressing that «these tariffs should not be borne by workers and it is essential to strengthen social dialogue in economic decisions to ensure a fair solution that puts the general interest first and avoids job destruction.»