Canada extends Ukraine’s tariff-free order and restricts access to protected farm sectors. On Friday, Canada renewed Ukraine’s tariff-free access for most commodities but tightened access for eggs, poultry, and dairy, supply-managed industries.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said tariff assistance for Ukrainian goods like steel, which began a year ago, would continue to help Kyiv fight Russia for another year. That measure applied to non-free trade agreement items.
The government’s decision to extend trade access on Friday tested Canada’s support for Ukraine.
Canadian poultry and egg growers and processors complained that Ukraine’s access made import control tougher, raising concerns about Ukrainian food safety due to infrastructural damage.
The USDA states Ukraine was the sixth-largest chicken meat exporter before the war.
However, Ukraine has shipped few such farm products. Finance authorities informed a legislative committee that Ukraine sent only one C$6,000 ice cream cargo last year in the first five months of improved trade access.
Under quotas, Canadian egg, poultry, and dairy farmers face little import competition. Freeland said Canada would allow Ukraine to send those products tariff-free within World Trade Organization quotas but would reimpose charges on shipments above them.
After a dam disaster, Ukrainian Canadian Congress CEO Ihor Michalchyshyn urged the government to maintain duty-free access for Ukraine’s farm economy.
“While we welcome the extension of the tariff waiver on some Ukrainian goods, we are disappointed that Canada excluded some key agricultural industries,” he stated in an email.
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