TIRANA, April 15 – Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Senator Robert Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations have criticized the the Trump Administration’s approach to Kosovo and Serbia, claiming that it has ignored Serbia’s derecognition campaigns against Kosovo as well as its close ties with Russia.
In a letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, they urged the Trump Administration to “avoid heavy-handed, unbalanced tactics as it works with Kosovo and Serbia to reach a comprehensive peace settlement that reflects the will of the people of both countries.”
“The U.S. has taken a heavy-handed approach toward the elected government in Kosovo. While we agree that Kosovo’s tariffs on Serbian goods — which have now been lifted — mainly hurt Kosovo and its citizens, this tool has been used by governments around the world, frequently including the Trump Administration. Kosovo is a close ally of the United States, and we urge you to adopt a patient and constructive approach with its democratically-elected government,” wrote Engel and Menendez.
The letter points out that pressure from the Trump Administration to Serbia has significantly dropped since January and has been intensified towards Kosovo instead.
In this line, Engel and Mendez questioned why the U.S. has not pressured Serbia into ending its global derecognitaion campagins further. “The Trump Administration’s lack of balance between Belgrade and Prishtina is taking place in the context of Serbia expanding ties with Moscow and increasing imports of Russian armaments. These weapons purchases require the Administration to impose sanctions on Serbia under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) passed by Congress in the aftermath of Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections. In your response, please inform us why the Administration has neither imposed those sanctions nor actively pressed Serbia to end its global derecognition efforts,” they wrote.
Additionally, Engel and Mendez requested that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) immediately restart the implementation of the Threshold Program after its suspension in March, which came as the Kosovo’s government did not agree to remove the extra tariffs on goods from Serbia. In the letter, they accuse the Trump Administration of withholding the assistance as a “bludgeon” which “twists the agency into just another transactional pressure tool—precisely what it was not intended to be.”
President Trump’s administration has urged the Kosovo government to lift tariffs on Serbia, in order to reopen dialogue with Serbia towards reaching a comprehensive Kosovo-Serbia agreement.
In late February, in a meeting with Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo reiterated “strong partnership between the two countries and Washington’s support for an independent and sovereign Kosovo,” adding that Washington expects Kosovo’s new government to remove tariffs on Serbian goods, “as a vital step towards resuming negotiations for a general normalization of relations” between the two countries.
A week after the Kosovo government was voted down by the parliament on March 25, Prime Minsiter Albin Kurti lifted all tariffs on imports from Serbia, while simultaneously introducing reciprocity measures.
The EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell was the first high foreign official to react to Kurti’s decision. He considered Kurti’s decision important, adding that “regional cooperation is key as is maintaining flow of goods, in particular in times of crisis.”
On the other hand, the U.S. remained opposed to Kurti’s decision.
In a statement released a day later, the U.S. Embassy to Kosovo wrote that “the United States has been clear that Kosovo should drop all tariffs and not create new barriers because these policies hurt the people of Kosovo and strangle Kosovo’s own economy. We remain opposed to the latest move to implement reciprocal measures on the movement of goods from Serbia. These measures create more problems at a time when the U.S. believes the airline, railway and motor agreements agreed upon by both sides, when implemented, will increase economic development and create the conditions needed for a successful dialogue.”
