Future Trade Relations Between Ukraine and the EU Post-2025

The European Union will not introduce new trade preferences for Ukraine immediately after the current liberalization mechanism expires on June 5, 2025.

Source: this was stated anonymously by a European official familiar with the trade negotiations between Ukraine and the EU.

Details: the European official emphasized that after June 5, 2025, when the current "trade visa-free" measures (Autonomous Trade Measures, ATM) provided by the EU to Ukraine end, trade conditions will revert to pre-war standards.

However, afterward, the EU and Ukraine plan to propose some favorable changes.

"Starting June 6, the autonomous trade measures – trade preferences for Ukraine introduced by the EU after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression – will come to an end. Trade conditions will revert to pre-war terms. Both trade preferences and restrictions currently imposed on several goods, such as chicken meat, eggs, honey, etc., will cease," the source told.

He added that the idea of retaining trade preferences for certain categories of Ukrainian exports to the EU, such as steel, is being discussed.

"The EU will continue discussions on amending Article 29 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU to develop the most beneficial trade conditions for both sides and support Ukraine's economy, which is suffering from the war," the European official stated.

Earlier, Poland's Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski indicated that the European Commission has not yet provided the EU Council with proposals regarding the "trade visa-free" agreement with Ukraine.

It should be noted that on May 13, 2024, the EU Council approved the extension of preferential trade with Ukraine for another year until June 5, 2025, after lengthy negotiations.

Regarding the future format of trade relations between Ukraine and the EU, preliminary agreements have been established that the conditions for duty-free trade will be integrated into the Association Agreement with the EU.

In February 2025, First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko stated at a joint meeting of the European Commission and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine that Ukraine's primary task in 2025 is to finalize consultations on trade liberalization with the EU according to Article 29 of the Association Agreement.

In February 2025, ministers of agriculture from Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia called for the introduction of pre-war quotas on agricultural imports from Ukraine.