Stanic: Trump tariffs major blow to Serbia's competitiveness in US market

BELGRADE - The 35 pct US tariffs on Serbian goods are a major blow to the competitiveness of the Serbian economy in the US market as even Chinese goods will face lower, 30 pct tariffs, says Bojan Stanic, head of the Strategic Analysis Sector at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Serbia (PKS).

The new tariffs, introduced by US President Donald Trump late on Thursday, are a disappointment for Serbia, being just two per cent lower than the initial tariffs, Stanic told Tanjug.

"Serbia is one of the most burdened countries in a group of 70 countries listed on the White House website as facing tariffs. In Europe, only Switzerland is behind us, with 39 pct," Stanic said.

He noted that, however, there was space for new talks with the US administration.

"We believe the government will do everything in its power to improve Serbia's position in that market because, in the past ten years, our economic relations have been marked by development - growth of economic activity in imports and exports of goods and services exchange, an inflow of FDI from the US and an increase in the number of people working at Serbian companies established with US-majority capital," Stanic explained.

He said it remained unknown why Serbia faced some of the highest import tariffs in the US.

"The statistics registered by the US side are completely different to ours, which are aligned with Eurostat, and we can see that Serbia's argument that we have a trade deficit with them - rather than a surplus, as they are reporting - has not been acknowledged," Stanic said.

He said around 700 Serbian companies were exporting to the US and that the tariffs would primarily impact car tyre producers and manufacturers of arms and sports, hunting and military ammunition, as well as pet and animal food producers.

Stanic said Serbian exports to the US had been worth nearly 680 mln euros last year, making the US the number 19 export market for Serbia.