The EU may impose punitive measures amounting to $13.6 million per year in the trade dispute with the United States over ripe Spanish olives, following an arbitration ruling.

The decision was published by World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitrators in Geneva on Wednesday.

The dispute concerns ripe olives, on which the US imposed special tariffs in 2018. The EU filed a complaint against this in 2019 which has already been upheld. The US promised to change its regulations, but the EU considered this to be insufficient, and this has now been confirmed by the WTO arbitrators.

The WTO said the latest arbitration ruling cannot be further appealed. The EU can now formally request the imposition of such punitive measures, the granting of which is considered a mere formality.

The EU originally wanted to impose a fine amounting to $35 million per year in this case. The penalty is intended to correspond to the damage caused to one country by the unjustified measures of another country.