The EU plans to revoke its preferential autonomous trade measures with Ukraine effective June 5, according to Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU presidency until July. He emphasized that while Poland aims to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia, it must not come at the expense of Polish producers.
Oleksandra Avramenko, a representative from the UABC, noted that after the cessation of visa-free trade, import quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU will not be limited to seven products but will instead be extended to 30. Instead of having full market access, Ukrainian exporters will be restricted to using only 7/12 of the annual quotas that were previously in effect before the war (seven months remaining in the year for each product category). This effectively reduces wheat exports from six to one million tons, corn from 4.7 million tons to 650,000, and sugar to a mere 20,000 tons.
Avramenko asserts that due to internal political dynamics in some EU countries, the European Commission will only start reassessing the trade terms with Ukraine under the association agreement during the summer.