Access to the EU market will be maintained while Ukraine negotiates trade terms

The worst-case scenario in trade with the European Union from June 6, when the autonomous trade measures (ATMs) will expire, is a return to the free trade regime that was in effect before the war and the introduction of the ATMs in June 2022.

This was reported by Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka.

According to him, an agreement was reached last year that the ATMs would cease to operate from June 6 of this year, and instead the European Commission would conduct a review with Ukraine under Article 29 of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (DCFTA) in order to increase access of Ukrainian goods to the EU market and European goods to the Ukrainian market.

“And if everything happened with the autonomous trade measures as the European Commission planned, then with Article 29 we have slowed down a bit so far due to a number of external circumstances. But I hope that we will find this solution quite quickly. If not by June 6, then as soon as possible after June 6,” the trade representative described the current situation.

“And at least for the time being, while we are negotiating new parameters for the liberalization of trade in these goods, which have already been fully liberalized, we will not have problems with access to the European Union market,” Kachka added.

In general, he stated that the situation in trade is far from being as optimistic and not as friendly as in other areas of cooperation with the EU.

At the same time, the trade representative of Ukraine believes that even the pre-war trade regime with the EU is “quite good,” because there were no duties on industrial goods, and there will be none for most agricultural goods.

“But it is obvious that for the goods that are most interesting and most sensitive to us, autonomous trade measures have helped us a lot. They helped not only in terms of market access, but also in terms of transit. This was relevant until 2023, when our ports were not working. Now the ports are working, and all exports going to third countries go from our ports, so we do not have a transit load. Accordingly, these autonomous trade measures that helped transit are no longer so relevant,” Kachka noted.

In his opinion, in 2023-2024, Ukraine and the EU found a balance of trade, although Ukraine also has a fairly large trade deficit — imports exceed exports almost twice.

“Obviously, it is now a subject of discussion how to maintain this balanced trade. Our approach is to leave the terms of trade as they are at least now, perhaps even freer, but at the same time controlled. We will see what happens — I will not get ahead of myself. We are working quite constructively with the European Commission, but it is obvious that this will be a comprehensive solution with all the nuances,” the Ukrainian trade representative concluded.

Tags: Ukraine, EU, restrictions