Chisinau in talks with Washington over tariff reduction to 15% - Moldovan ambassador to U.S.

CHISINAU. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Moldova hopes the United States will reduce its customs duties on Moldovan goods to 15% from the current 25%, Moldova's Ambassador to the U.S. Vladislav Kulminski said on the TV8 channel on Tuesday.

Moldovan diplomats in Washington are working actively to solve the problem, Chisinau has been doing "very serious and systemic work" on this issue for a very long time now, the ambassador said.

"In principle, we are now seeing a comprehensible and predictable path for moving forward. The work continues," Kulminski said.

After Moldovan President Maia Sandu's meeting with U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last week, heads of several Moldovan ministries and government departments will pay visits to Washington, he said.

"I am very hopeful that during those visits we will finally be able to secure a reduction of tariffs from 25% to 15%," Kulminski said.

Last year, the White House decided to review its customs duties on goods from most countries. Initially it announced a 31% tariff on Moldovan goods. However, later, in July, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote to Moldovan President Maia Sandu to announce the imposition of 25% tariffs on all imports from Moldova from August 1.

Moldova's exports to the U.S. increased 1.8 times over the past three years. In 2024, total exports exceeded $90 million, or about 2.5% of all Moldovan exports. The shipments were mostly strong spirits, aircraft parts, cigarettes and foodstuffs. The tariff increase hit Moldova's wine and spirits exports to the U.S., causing them to nearly halve in the past five months.