In a letter dated 8 November, eight European foreign affairs, economy, and trade ministers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden called on the European Commission to “[present] a comprehensive proposal to further increase tariffs for the broadest possible range of imports [of Russian products] into the European Union”.
The ministers point out that although imports from Russia have fallen considerably since Russia initially invaded Ukraine in 2022, there were still €42 billion worth of these imports in 2023. They remind [the European Commission] that since the invasion, Ukraine has received a total of €81 billion in aid from the EU.
As a result, “[we] need to target trade that continues to bring Russia significant [income]. A concrete contribution to achieving this objective is to introduce EU import tariffs on Russian goods”, the ministers explain in the letter, which was seen by Agence Europe. They specify that it will be necessary to ensure the transit of agricultural products to developing countries is not affected.
The ministers explain that in order to minimise the impact on the European economy, tariffs could be introduced with transition periods for the targeted sectors in parallel with measures that aim to facilitate the transition of European industries away from Russian products.
See the letters of the eight Member States: https://aeur.eu/f/E8W (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)