Ukraine is at the initial stage of dialogue with the United States regarding the removal of the 25% tariff on Ukrainian metallurgical products, said Ukraine’s trade representative Taras Kachka during the conference "Trade Wars: The Art of Defense."
According to Kachka, until recently, the dialogue with the U.S. focused on agreeing on a resource deal, but now Kyiv has intensified efforts on the tariff issue. In particular, consultations between Ukrainian and American sides, involving U.S. trade representative Jamison Greer, are expected this week.
“For us, it is important to remove tariffs on metal, both the 25% and 10%. It is quite possible that we will achieve this. But right now, we are at the starting position,” Kachka noted.
The U.S. administration imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports to the country in February this year. The increased tariffs came into effect in March.
The share of metallurgical products in Ukraine’s exports to the U.S. is 57.9%. According to the Ministry of Economy, this amounts to $503.3 million out of a total $869.1 million. The largest export items are pig iron ($363.4 million; 940 thousand tons), pipes ($112.9 million; 92 thousand tons), rebar ($15.2 million; 3.3 thousand tons), wire ($4 million; 3.9 thousand tons), and metal structures ($1.3 million; 182 tons).
