Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the mechanism allowing duty-free import of goods from Ukraine will cease to apply at the beginning of June, and the trade between Ukraine and the EU will return to pre-invasion terms.
“When we won the elections, one of our first decisions was to force an immediate correction of the [autonomous trade measures] ATM mechanism to introduce some quotas, but that was only the beginning,” Tusk said during the plenary session of the Sejm, according to Polish TV channel tvn24.
“Later, I started a campaign together with my ministers for the EU to abandon the ATM mechanism, which liberalized trade with Ukraine,” he added.
The EU’s Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM), adopted in the summer after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, removed tariff rate quotas on 36 categories of Ukrainian import goods to provide support to the country during the war. The current EU pause on duties on imports from Ukraine is active until June 5, 2025.
Tusk stated he is not “anti-Ukrainian” regarding Russia’s invasion but added that Polish support for Ukraine cannot come “at the expense of Polish producers, especially farmers.”
Warsaw also recently denied plans to send Polish troops to Ukraine as part of a European “resiliency force” west of the Dnipro River aimed at deterring further Russian aggression.
With the end of the ATM measures, the EU will not extend the suspension of import duties on Ukrainian exports set to expire in June, a move that could cost Kyiv billions in revenue, two sources familiar with the matter told Kyiv Post.
Ukraine relies on exports within the ATM framework to secure crucial foreign currency to fund its defense efforts. The country’s war-torn economy could lose around €3 billion ($3.4 billion) if the EU reinstates tariffs, the Ukrainian Center for Economic Strategy estimated.
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria are among the countries that oppose tariff-free trade with Ukraine, according to the Financial Times. Two years ago, the countries imposed unilateral bans on Ukrainian grain and other food imports, defying EU trade rules.