EU may impose new tariffs on Ukrainian imports from June 6 - FT
The European Union may significantly limit the duty-free access of Ukrainian products to its market in the coming weeks.
This is reported by the Financial Times, Censor.NET informs.
The decision was made due to the intention to terminate the temporary duty-free regime, which has been in effect since 2022.
As it turns out, these steps were a reaction to pressure from Poland, which demanded to protect EU farmers. Although Ukraine and the EU have a free trade agreement, residual duties were abolished in 2022. Now the European Commission plans to introduce so-called "transitional measures" while the agreement is being updated.
The document presented to the member states provides for a significant reduction in duty-free quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products. The largest restrictions may affect the export of corn, sugar, honey and poultry. Thus, the annual quota for corn is planned to be reduced from 4.7 million tons to 650 thousand, for sugar - from 109 thousand to 40.7 thousand, and for poultry - from 57.1 thousand to 40 thousand tons.
Farmers in Poland, France and other EU countries have long complained that Ukrainian imports are causing a decrease in domestic prices. This issue has become a key factor in Polish politics before the presidential elections, which is why Warsaw asked the European Commission to suspend trade negotiations with Kyiv.
The European Commission confirmed that there are no plans to renew the agreements, as the trade agreement is currently being reviewed. If the negotiations are not completed by June 6, temporary restrictions will be introduced, including the monthly distribution of the annual quota.
The head of the European Parliament's trade committee, Bernd Lange, said that this is "a really bad signal for Ukraine."
