U.S. President Donald J. Trump has signed a decree restoring duty-free trade rules on some Ukrainian goods, almost two years after he suspended them citing concerns over intellectual property rights.
Trump’s decision was made public on Oct. 25, in a White House statement that confirmed the official presidential decree.
In December 2017, Trump suspended duty-free arrangements on some Ukrainian goods, citing concerns over what he called Ukraine’s insufficient protection of intellectual property rights.
“I did so after considering, in particular, the extent to which Ukraine was providing adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights,” the proclamation reads.
The U.S. administration decided to terminate the suspension this week, stating that Ukraine had made some progress on the issue: “I determined that Ukraine has made progress in providing adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights,” the statement reads.
The lifting of a suspension on duty-free treatment applies to “certain eligible articles that are the product of Ukraine,” states the decree, without further detail.
The ruling comes into effect five days after the proclamation, on October 30.
Through 2018, bilateral trade between Ukraine and the U.S. increased slightly to about $3.5 billion, according to official statistics.
Leading U.S. exports to Ukraine in 2018 were coal ($655 million), motor vehicles ($260 million) and civilian aircraft ($217 million). In the same 10-month period, Ukraine’s top exports to the United States were iron products ($707 million) and sunflower products ($27.3 million).
