Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska hopes that the substantive negotiations with the United States will be held to remove the state from the list of countries to which duties on steel and aluminium applied.

"Our main task is to increase the level of dialogue with the U.S. government and start a substantive negotiation process with it," she said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The government appointed Mykolska the main negotiator on this issue.

"We have already presented our position to the U.S. government: we believe that Ukraine and the United States are strategic partners, and Ukrainian metallurgical products do not pose a threat to the national security of the United States," the trade representative of Ukraine said.

She also said that the United States is a traditional market for Ukrainian metallurgy.

"Contracts have been developed there by our metallurgists for a long time, and they will not be easily compensated for. Additional U.S. duties will lead to the fact that some of the metal products from other countries that will be sanctioned will be redirected to their domestic markets and third-country markets. Consequently, competition for Ukrainian producers in the markets of third countries will increase," Mykolska said.