Ukraine seeks to conclude a free trade agreement with the US: Zelenskyy took the first step

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to former US President Donald Trump with the initiative to conclude a free trade agreement between the two countries. This step is aimed at strengthening the economic partnership between Ukraine and the United States, even though the US is not yet on the list of Ukraine's main trading partners.

This was announced by Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka. He stressed that Kyiv sees strategic value in expanding the network of free trade agreements with all G7 countries. Today, Ukraine already has such agreements with the UK, Canada and the European Union, and now the US and Japan have become the target.

Kachka explained that a growing number of Ukrainian companies are focusing on exporting products to developed countries, where there are higher quality requirements and, accordingly, higher margins. This opens up opportunities for creating greater added value and profitability for Ukrainian manufacturers.

"In view of this, it is important for us to focus on exports to the US, and concluding a free trade agreement is a logical step in this direction," the trade representative noted. According to him, access to the US market will allow Ukrainian business to gain a foothold in one of the most powerful consumer markets in the world.

One of the factors that may contribute to the implementation of this initiative is the creation of the US-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund. It operates within the framework of the already launched bilateral initiative on cooperation in the field of mineral extraction, and may become the basis for further trade agreements.

"We are only at the initial stages of this process, but we believe that such an initiative will be interesting for the US as well. There is still a lot of work ahead, but the beginning has been made," Kachka concluded. Ukraine expects that with the development of political dialogue and economic interaction, such an agreement will become a reality in the coming years.