Europe to slam pre-war tariffs on Ukraine farm products

The European Union is preparing to reintroduce tariffs and quotas for Ukraine’s agricultural products removed in the wake of Russia’s invasion three years ago.

The wartime tariff waivers are expiring amid calls for stricter controls on Ukrainian imports from several EU governments. France and Poland are among those feeling the heat from unhappy farmers.

EU readies farm tariffs for Ukraine, report reveals

The executive arm in Brussels is getting ready to reinstate tariff quotas on certain agricultural commodities from Ukraine early next month, documents seen by Politico suggest.

According to a draft put forward this week, the European Commission (EC) plans to restore import caps on a number of farm products, such as wheat, meat, maize, and eggs, which were in place before the war with Russia.

The EU implemented special rules for its economic exchange with Ukraine called “autonomous trade measures” designed to support Ukraine’s farming sector following Russia’s invasion in 2022. These will expire on June 5.

The measures include waiving import duties and quotas on a range of agro goods, which the Commission now wants to replace with adjusted limits under the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement with Ukraine.

If the proposal is approved, Ukraine will be granted access to 7/12ths of its annual quota for each affected product group under DCFTA for the remaining seven months of this year, the report details.

This is viewed in Brussels as a transitional measure to allow the EC to update the EU’s existing free-trade agreement with Kyiv and renegotiate the DCFTA terms, as indicated by the executive body’s trade spokesperson Olof Gill last week.

Trade restrictions to crash-land Ukraine’s economy, critics say

Not everyone in Europe agrees with the plan. According to Karin Karlsbro, member of the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, “instead of offering Ukraine a soft transition, the European Commission risks delivering a hard crash landing at the worst possible time.”

Karlsbro, who is the Parliament’s lead rapporteur on Ukraine, also warned:

“Reintroducing harsher trade restrictions now would damage Ukraine’s economy and send the wrong political message about the EU’s commitment.”

The pre-war quotas are far more restrictive than the autonomous trade measures. Last year, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Vitaliy Koval emphasized that unrestricted access to the EU market is critical for his war-torn nation.

However, maintaining Ukraine’s favorable access to Europe’s common market has become politically untenable in the past few months. Governments of several member states, including France, have been pressured by local farmers to pursue stricter controls on agricultural imports.

Poland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is also unwilling to extend Ukraine’s tariff-free trade with Europe. There have been indications that Warsaw would like to postpone negotiations with Kyiv until after its presidential election in May.

Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, backed by the ruling Civic Coalition of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is leading in the polls ahead of the first round on Sunday. The Polish government fears that any free trade talks with Ukraine now would alienate voters.

Polish farmers launched a series of road blockades last year after the European Commission renewed the suspension of duties and quotas on grain imports from Ukraine on January 31, 2024. The preferential regime flooded Poland with cheaper Ukrainian foods, including flour, sugar and milk.

The Commission is preparing for a no-deal scenario, Euronews reported last week, quoting a spokesperson who said that the EC is “exploring potential transitional measures” if negotiations to review DCFTA are not finalized by June 6.

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