U.S. companies in Madrid ask Trump to treat Spain differently

MADRID (Reuters) - A group of U.S. companies present in Spain asked the administration of President Donald Trump to take into account the country's trade deficit with the United States when setting new tariffs on its goods.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Spain (AmChamSpain) said on Wednesday it had sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, stressing that Spain imports more from the U.S. than it exports there, unlike the European Union as a whole.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Trump said he was considering setting reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose import duties on U.S. products. The European Commision responded that it charges some of the world's lowest tariffs and sees no justification for an increase of tariffs on its exports.

Last year, Spain exported 18.1 billion euros ($19 billion) in products such as petrochemicals or food products such as olive oil, wine and oranges to the United States, and imported 28.1 billion euros worth of products from it, official data show.

KEY QUOTES

"AmChamSpain urges the U.S. administration to consider this different reality when establishing new tariffs," it said in a statement. "We thus ask that, if country-specific measures were applied, the European Union take this situation into account when defining its own trade response.

"We call for dialogue and the search for consensual solutions that avoid trade retaliation and reduce uncertainty for companies and workers on both sides of the Atlantic."

($1=0.9578 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Inti Landauro and Clarence Fernandez)

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