Here what's in store for NIS after introduction of Trump's tariffs: Bajatovic clarifies the situation

Photo: Tanjug/AP, Shutterstock

Srbijagas General Director Dusan Bajatovic said today that there will be more talks about Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) and that he expects at least one more delay in the imposing of US sanctions against our oil company.

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Bajatovic said that a clear action plan for NIS is needed, which, he says, must be the result of talks between Serbia and Russia and be acceptable to the US.

"We can license month after month as long as you want, but the consequences will be something else. NIS will certainly reduce sales and therefore processing, that is inevitable. Anything is possible, but it will not be easy to compensate for the supply of finished products such as gasoline, diesel and everything else from the surrounding countries. On the other hand, it would also require an outflow of foreign currency," Bajatovic told TV Pink.

He believes that a new postponement of the sanctions against NIS shows that Serbia, regardless of the fact that these sanctions are also political, has the US administration's understanding.

He reminded that before the first postponement, the ownership structure of that company changed and that it is still unknown how OFAC (Office for Foreign Assets Control) treats those changes.

"We will have some time, I'm sure, to solve it. We are safe for at least six months as far as derivatives are concerned. Everything is at its maximum, we were ready to receive the first blow of sanctions," said Bajatovic.

Speaking about import taxes that the US introduced to foreign countries, Bajatovic said that US President Donald Trump "turned the world upside down" with those measures, but added that it remains to be seen whether they will be successful in the long term.

Bajatovic said it is obvious that there are divisions of all kinds in the world, and that even the Americans admit that the world has become multipolar, not only politically, but also economically and militarily.

"Trump delivered this blow and he will look to take everything he can everywhere and protect as many US interests as possible," Bajatovic said.

He believes that tariffs will cause a lot of damage to Europe and that it is interesting that no additional sanctions have been introduced against Russia.

"From this we can see that the Americans and the Russians are still talking. I am sure that Serbia, even though it is small, will be on some map of all those agreements, both political and economic," said Bajatovic.

He also stated that our trade exchange with the US is "not too large" and that it mainly concerns the IT sector and similar areas.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)