Draft:2018 Kosovo–Serbia trade war

After Kosovo imposed a tax of 100 per cent on Serbian and Bosnian imports, citing their attitude of hostility, Kosovo appears to be replacing imports from Serbia with those from other countries in the region.

Kosovo Customs says Albania and Macedonia have benefitted most since the tariff was imposed.

This is according to the Pristina-based Klan Kosova broadcaster.

Pristina recently increased the said taxes by 100 percent, prompting Belgrade to demand their abolishing before the EU-mediated Kosovo dialogue can continue.

Disagreements between Kosovo leaders over the 100-per-cent tariffs on imports from Serbia and Bosnia are damaging the country's negotiating position with Serbia, some experts say.

"Clashes between the Prime Minister and the President create the need for an internal deal [on the issue of tariffs]," a Pristina-based journalist, Agron Halitaj, told BIRN.

Speaking on Friday, Dacic said that Belgrade has managed to reinstate the Kosovo issue as "the main topic on the agenda" - and that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Belgrade on Thursday as part of President Vladimir Putin's delegation, told him it was "a historic success for Belgrade that 12 countries have withdrawn their recognition of Kosovo."

Although the main reason for the visit of the EU official, in charge of enlargement negotiations and neighborhood policy, was the abolition of Pristina's trade barriers on goods from central Serbia, Haradinaj did not change his stance, Pristina-based Gazeta Express writes.

"The meeting was an opportunity for an exchange with the Kosovo representatives on the (Belgrade-Pristina) dialogue," the EU announced, adding that in this context, Mogherini "reiterated the urgency to revoke the customs tariffs (taxes on goods from central Serbia), announced by the Kosovo government at the end of last year."

The prime minister of the provisional Pristina institutions also told his annual news conference that Serbia is "little Russia in the Balkans."

According to Pristina based Gazeta Express media outlet, these measures will remain in effect "as long as Belgrade acts against Pristina."

Haradinaj spoke about taxes in response to Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic - who allegedly, according to some Pristina media - "wrote to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama asking him to reconsider Albania's support to Kosovo."

Dacic added, speaking on Monday, that this agreement that had been reached with NATO should be translated into a directive that everyone in the field should respect - "in order to avoid a situation that would trigger major problems in Kosovo and Metohija."

Haradinaj told reporters in Pristina on Tuesday that she was guilty because she allowed the process to "get derailed."