WTO largely backs EU over Russia in tariff fight
ZURICH: Russia levied inflated tariffs on the import of some agricultural and manufactured products from the European Union, a World Trade Organization panel said in a decision on Friday.
The first panel ruling involving Russia since it joined the WTO in 2012 comes in a dispute that dates to 2014, when the EU accused Russia of levying higher-than-permitted tariffs on goods including paper and paperboard, palm oil and its fractions, refrigerators and combined refrigerator-freezers. Subsequent talks between Brussels and Moscow failed to settle the disagreement, leaving the WTO panel to decide. The EU contends Russia's higher duties have had a clearly negative impact on exports of products worth some 600 million euros ($670 million) annually.
EU officials have said the matter is not linked to the West's conflict with Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis.