Posted on 09/12/2014 8:51:01 PM PDT by wetphoenix
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Ukraine agreed on Friday to delay the implementation of their free-trade pact until the end of next year in a concession to Russia, which had complained its industry would be hurt by the deal.
Russia and the West are bitterly at odds over Ukraine, and the European Union and United States both imposed new sanctions against Moscow on Friday over what they say is its military backing for separatist rebels in the east of the country. Russia, which denies involvement, said it would consider retaliating.
But postponing the entry into force of the trade deal helps address one of the issues at the heart of the crisis. Russia had threatened to slap import tariffs on Ukrainian goods from Nov. 1, arguing that the pact would squeeze it out of the Ukrainian market and provide a route for EU goods to flood into Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.