China will introduce tariff preferences for products from Serbia under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the countries, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Friday.
The free trade regime agreement between China and Serbia will be effective from July 1. Under the agreement, signed in October 2023, about 90 per cent of goods traded between China and Serbia will be exempt from tariffs, and more than 60 per cent of them will have zero tariffs immediately after the FTA comes into effect.
Tariffs on more than 95 per cent of goods will be gradually reduced to zero tariffs, the MOC added.
The implementation of the FTA will promote the comprehensive upgrading of bilateral economic and trade cooperation and give new impetus to deepening the China-Serbia comprehensive strategic partnership and building a China-Serbia community with a shared future in a new era, the MOC said.
The Customs and Tariff Commission of the Chinese State Council announced on Thursday that China will impose the tariff rates it committed to under the FTA on some imports from the country from July 1.
Once the agreement comes into force, China will exempt from tariffs some Serbian imports such as power generators, electric motors, tyres, beef, wine and nuts, MOC said.
Serbia’s deepening ties with China have been criticised by both the United States and the EU. A European Parliament resolution warned that Serbia’s warming relations with China “raises questions about the country’s strategic direction” and hinders the country’s “economic and political development.”
