Comment by andreygrehov
10 days ago
US does produce olive oil, particularly in states like California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Oregon, and Hawaii. So you do have a few options:
1. Support local producers. There are high-quality olive oils made right here in the US that might surprise you.
2. Work with Tunisia manufacturers to move their production to the US
3. If you don't want to support local producers, pay extra and enjoy your Tunisia olive oil as much as you want
4. If politics is the real issue for you, move to Tunisia, there is no "orange man" there
That said, refusing to support local production out of principle isn’t really a solution.
Difficult to move the production of olive oil.
I don't know how much you know about olive oil, but it comes from olives, which grow on olive trees. Olive trees are famously long-lived and, together with the very specific types of land that they grow on, they represent extremely persistent and valuable investments for the people who produce olive oil.
This is not true. Next time you grab an olive oil bottle read the fine print: unless it’s very expensive it will be a blend of oils from 4-8 countries, ie production doesn’t have to be in the same country where olives grow on olive trees, as you eloquently put.
What's your point? The olive imports from these 4-8 countries will all be tariffed also.
There are a few olive trees in my neighborhood. I should plant some too. It would be fun to watch them grow.
> There are a few olive trees in my neighborhood. I should plant some too.
They are nice trees, but beware you won't be eating the olives unless you put a lot of work in. They have to be de-bittered or "cured", which is done by soaking them in things like caustic soda. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8267.pdf
So if you are after a nice compact tree that doesn't need a lot of water, then an olive tree is a good choice. But if you want a garden of Eden fruit tree, there are much better choices.
You forgot about
5. Switch to another source of fat, like lard or butter.
Even if there isn't a local industry that produces something, tariffs increase the competitiveness of domestic substitute goods.
US consumption of olive oil is more than 10x domestic production of olive oil. It is not possible to spin up olive orchards in even a medium timespan as the trees take many years to grow. It’s not about wanting to support domestic producers, it legitimately is not possible.
That's why I believe that long-term tariffs will result in a net positive effect. Domestic production will keep growing. Things that cannot be produced locally will somehow get resolved on their own through a self-organizing chaos, so to speak.
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