Implementation of Ukraine's EU accession plan in jeopardy - reporters investigated what happened

Donald Trump's plan to establish a free trade zone with Ukraine could jeopardize Kyiv's aspirations to join the European Union, Crawford Falconer, the former chief UK trade negotiator, has warned.

The Telegraph writes about this.

The official said that the US president's initiative could seriously complicate Ukraine's European integration efforts, as EU rules do not allow member states to conclude their own trade agreements with third countries.

According to sources, Trump is promoting the idea of creating a "duty-free zone" in Ukraine, which would provide for the abolition of duties and free trade in goods with the United States.

Such an agreement, following a possible peaceful settlement with russia, could significantly accelerate Ukraine's post-war reconstruction by creating powerful incentives for companies to build factories in the zone and export products to the United States at reduced costs

However, Falconer emphasized that such a scheme would likely dash Ukraine's hopes of joining the EU, as all customs union countries are required to hand over control of foreign trade to the European Commission in Brussels.

"If Ukraine becomes a member of the EU, it will obviously create a problem for the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the US, because the EU has a common external tariff, and it is the European Commission that sets it. The only way this could work 100 percent is if the EU itself separately signed a free trade agreement with the US. But, in my opinion, this looks unlikely," he explained.

"So there is a problem here for technical reasons. But that doesn't mean that smart people couldn't find some solution," Falconer said at the same time.

EU officials on Friday said they did not yet have a clear understanding of Trump's plan, but warned that its implementation could be "more difficult than the situation with Northern Ireland," which after Brexit received special status to avoid becoming a back door to the single market.