Kosovo's premier faced a backlash Friday for his plan to partially lift a tariff on Serbian imports, with a US diplomat condemning it as a "serious mistake" for falling short of a full removal. The West has been pressuring Kosovo for months to drop the trade barrier, which has been poisoning already fraught ties with Serbia, a former war foe, since late 2018.
But the "half measure" Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced Thursday was quickly criticised by the United States, Kosovo's most important ally. "Our position is quite clear: the tariffs must be completely dropped," tweeted Richard Grenell, the US envoy to Kosovo and Serbia who was also recently named Washington's acting intelligence chief.
"Mr Kurti is making a serious mistake," continued Grenell, who is known for a blunt approach. Under Kurti's plan the tariff would be lifted first on raw materials and then fully scrapped in April - but only if Serbia also shows signs of goodwill.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, however, was similarly unsatisfied, telling reporters: "We will wait for them to abolish the tariff (completely) and then we'll talk". The 100 percent tariff is the latest source of animosity between the Balkan neighbours, whose relationship is still tense 20 years after Kosovo broke away in a separatist war. Serbia has never recognised the independence Kosovo declared in 2008 and has lobbied hard to keep it out of global organisations, including the United Nations.
As one of his conditions for fully lifting the tariffs, Kurti demanded Belgrade cease is efforts to sway other countries to reverse their recognitions of Kosovo. It's an issue that has divided the globe, with most of the West accepting Kosovo's statehood while Serbia's allies in Moscow and Beijing do not. Kurti also received blowback from both allies and opponents at home.
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