South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed to Finland during a business round-table with its President Sauli Niinistö to make the case against protectionism in the European Union as the bloc new import rules puts extra pressure on South African citrus producers.

The EU put up new regulations in 2022 that aimed to control the spread of the false codling moth, a non-indigenous pest that could damage local citrus production. The new rules require South African producers to apply extreme cold treatment before exporting to the bloc. Producers complained that the rules add cost to them.

South Africa filed a complaint against the regulations to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in July 2022, just after they went in force. A month later, South Africa and the EU stuck a temporary deal to clear more than 1,000 shipments that were already travelling when the regulations went into force and that got stuck in European ports.

Ramaphosa told during a co-hosted meeting with Niinistö that “recent decisions by the EU are unfair,” asking Finland to work on behalf of “free trade.”