Help from Great Britain: No customs duties for Ukrainian products

The British government announced new measures to support the Ukrainian economy. For example, Great Britain waived customs duties on goods coming from Ukraine.

Great Britain waives customs duties on goods originating in Ukraine as part of the Free Trade Agreement. The British government has announced that tariffs will be temporarily set at zero percent and all import quotas will be abolished.

“We stand firmly with Ukraine in this ongoing struggle and will work to ensure Ukraine’s survival and prosperity as a free and sovereign nation,” said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britain’s Secretary of State for International Trade. The tariff measures are part of the UK’s economic support package for Ukraine, which includes £1 billion in loan guarantees.

This action was taken at the direct request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The British government wants to support the Ukrainian economy in the crisis by reducing tariffs on important export goods such as barley, honey, canned tomatoes and poultry to zero. The duty to import goods from Ukraine is currently around 22 percent. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to reduce tariffs during his visit to Kyiv earlier this month.

Further ban on the export of wiretapping and surveillance equipment to Russia

At the same time, the government in London announced new economic sanctions against Russia. The ban on the export of products and technologies to Russia will be extended to listening and monitoring devices. The government statement said they wanted to “close all loopholes” so that Russia could not buy goods from the UK “to suppress the heroic people of Ukraine”.

The British government last week tightened customs sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus, banning the import of silver and wood products. The import of iron and steel products and the export of quantitative technologies, advanced materials and luxury goods have already been banned. In addition, tariffs on products such as diamonds and rubber from Russia were increased by 35 percentage points.