The European Union is preparing to reinstate duties on Ukrainian imports, writes Financial Times. According to diplomats, the decision to abruptly terminate special trade agreements, which allowed most Ukrainian goods to be imported duty-free into the EU, was made after Poland initiated the protection of the bloc's farmers.
The EU already had a free trade agreement with Ukraine, and after Moscow's invasion in 2022, the bloc went further and temporarily suspended the remaining duties. These measures expire on June 6, and the European Union plans to replace them with 'transitional measures' while both sides work on a trade agreement.
Two EU diplomats told FT that the transitional measure involves dividing the annual duty-free quota into 12 monthly quotas to reduce imports during negotiations.
The greatest impact will be on corn, sugar, honey, and poultry. The corn quota will decrease from 4.7 million tons to 650,000 tons per year, the poultry quota will decrease from 57,110 to 40,000, and for sugar — from 109,000 to 40,700.
This transitional proposal will sharply reduce duty-free quotas on agricultural products — a lifeline for farmers and Ukraine's budget, the publication reports.
The chairman of the European Parliament's trade committee, Bernd Lange, noted that this is indeed a bad signal for Ukraine, as finding a solution may take months.
According to the Ukrainian government's estimates, returning to pre-war trade conditions will reduce the country's revenues by approximately 3.5 billion euros per year.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, 'autonomous trade measures' have been in effect, which abolished duties on Ukrainian goods. The decision was made in the EU so that Kyiv could export agricultural products by land due to the blockade of the Black Sea by Russian troops.
At the same time, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia were dissatisfied with this decision because Ukrainian imports lowered domestic prices and provoked unrest among farmers.
Polish farmers periodically held protests, blocking checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. The latest took place on May 12-13 at the 'Yagodyn-Dorohusk' checkpoint.