The United States will suspend tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year, the US Department of Commerce said, citing the damage Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has done to the industry.
“Some of Ukraine’s largest steel communities have been among those hardest hit by Putin’s barbarism, and the steel mill in Mariupol has become a lasting symbol of Ukraine’s determination to resist Russia’s aggression,” the department said in a statement, referring to the plant that became the last redoubt of government troops fighting Russians for their city.
Then-US President Donald Trump in 2018 imposed a tariff of 25 percent on steel imports from countries including Ukraine. Lawmakers from both major US parties in April had urged President Joe Biden to lift the tariffs.
Ukraine is the 13th largest steel producer and typically exports about 80 percent of its production.
