It all started with a can of olive oil from Messenia, in southwestern Greece. Anastasios Doukas immigrated to the United States in 1974, studied chemistry and opened a pizzeria in Connecticut. From the small town of Gargalianoi, his brother, Angelos, sent him extra-virgin olive oil so that customers could try it in the restaurant. When they saw that the Greek product was popular, they tried to channel larger quantities. But it was not easy to gain a foothold in the US market. Some initial attempts to collaborate with other restaurants failed, and the delicatessens were mainly run by Italian immigrants, until the Food Network began to praise the Mediterranean diet. A new window of opportunity seemed to be opening.
The Doukas brothers continued to contact potential partners and participated in exhibitions. Anastasios installed stainless steel oil dispensers in American stores, and customers could now fill their empty bottles with Ariston olive oil at a lower price. In 2009, they built their own packaging unit in Gargalianoi, which is now expanding. Today, the family business sells approximately 140 product codes, including olive oil flavored with chilli, thyme and saffron. Ninety-five percent of their production is now exported to the US.
They did not expect, after so much effort, that they would now risk being dragged into the vortex of an international trade war. “We are watching what is happening with fear. It is something unknown, uncharted waters,” Anastasios tells Kathimerini from the US. “We have spent years establishing ourselves and now we are waiting to see where the ball will land. The global community is turning inward again,” Angelos observes from Gargalianoi.
Donald Trump’s tariff policy is not only causing concern in this family business. Other Greek exporters are also expressing concerns as they await the expiration of the 90-day deadline set by the US president. Will some Greek products be exempt? Will the 10% horizontal tariffs be maintained or will they rise to 20%, as Trump had initially announced for the European Union? Will the negotiations pay off?
Olives
In the town of Agria, near Volos, in central Greece, a family-run table olive production business will soon mark one century of operations. For the last 40 years, it has been exporting to the American market, and now 50% of its exports end up there. Haris Siouras, the third generation in the company, deals with exports and travels to the US every year. “There is unrest,” he says. “The message needs to get across that Kalamata olives in particular should not be subject to tariffs. They are not cultivated in the US so there’s no need to protect some local production.”
Table olives are the second most valuable Greek export to the US, after petroleum products, exceeding 200 million euros in 2024. Kostas Zoukas, president of the Panhellenic Association of Table Olive Processors, Formulators and Exporters, tells Kathimerini that this number did not arise by chance. It was preceded by decades of systematic work and mainly private initiatives by Greek businesses.
“We are no longer only addressing Greeks in Astoria or Arabs. With the right marketing strategy, we entered all American supermarkets,” says Zoukas. He points out that the uncertainty in the industry due to the imposition of tariffs is unprecedented. “There is uncertainty among exporters, we have postponed shipments and in a second phase we may face pressure to absorb part of the tariffs, which will increase our costs and, in the long run, may create sustainability problems,” he explains. The association is already in contact with members of the Greek diaspora in Trump’s environment, they will seek to speak with the new ambassador in Athens, and they have also informed the Greek government.
Turning to other international markets cannot be considered a realistic scenario at this stage. Zoukas explains that Greek table olives are already exported to 100 countries and have exhausted the scope for penetration in others. At the same time, if someone wanted to enter a new market, possibly in Asia, a five-year plan would be required, as the gastronomic conditions differ.
‘We have spent years establishing ourselves and now we are waiting to see where the ball will land. The global community is turning inward again’
Compotes
Among the Greek agri-food products exported to the US, compotes are the second most valuable after table olives. The company Venus Growers, which operates in fruit processing and production of fruit compotes, took its first steps in the US market after 2000 and is today the largest exporter in the sector from Greece. Last year, they processed 62,000 tons of fruit and a large part of the quantity they process ends up in the US.
Stelios Theodoulidis, general manager at Venus, says that Greek products have had greater absorption in the US in recent years due to quality, but also because production in California shrank due to water scarcity and labor shortages, while consumption remained stable. The resulting gap was filled mainly with imports from Greece, but also from China.
Additional tariffs on compotes were also imposed during Trump’s previous presidency. “We don’t know how a possible price increase will affect consumption, but because China is being hit with higher tariffs, there may be an opportunity,” says Theodoulidis. However, China may channel its production to different markets and has already begun to appear in Europe and South America. This development will mean new competition for Greek products.
The reservation that already exists in the market and the possibility of doubling tariffs after the 90-day deadline does not help the continuation of negotiations in view of the summer production season.
In the mountain village of Kalavryta, the local agricultural dairy cooperative began its first contacts with the US in late 2024 to channel its feta cheese to the American market. “After the announcement of the tariffs, there was an initial freeze, but now the situation is starting to stabilize. We have already started a collaboration in the past few days and I believe that the shocks will be absorbed,” the cooperative’s president, Pavlos Satolias, tells Kathimerini.
A total of 1,200 farmers collaborate with the Kalavryta Cooperative. Their product is the leader in the Greek market and they have now launched efforts to promote it abroad, in countries like France, the United Kingdom and the US. He hopes that feta will be exempt from customs duties, as has happened in the past. “We believe that the product is unique and should not be missing from abroad.”
The importer
In the US, Kostas Mastoras approaches the situation that has already developed in international trade from the importer’s perspective. He first opened a small grocery store in the 1980s, which later evolved into the Titan supermarket. At the same time, his import company, Optima, relies 90% on products that arrive from Greece. “Nobody has a crystal ball to see what might happen in the future,” he says, adding that uncertainty is not an ally in their line of work.
“Business has a basic prerequisite – there must be stable parameters. Now we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. I brought as much cargo as I could to the US. For anything that was already at sea, the old regime will apply. But what will happen then, if in May or July he changes his mind?” he wonders about Trump’s tariff policy.
In the agreements they seal with other partners in the market, prices change every six months, not every month, he says. “I am committed to the prices I gave at the beginning of January and any difference that arises along the way I will have to accept it,” However, he tries to remain optimistic, saying that Greek products will manage to overcome this crisis too. Back in Connecticut, Anastasios Doukas remembers with satisfaction, perhaps with a dose of nostalgia, his first steps in the American market. He points out how competitive things are in the US, as “everyone wants to sell there.”
“Free trade is the best, and it creates jobs on all sides,” he says. “I am also a product of globalization.”
