The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, announced today at the Standing With the Ukrainian People conference in Paris, France, that Canada will transfer $115 million in tariff revenues collected on imports from Russia and Belarus to repair Kyiv’s power grid following repeated Russian attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
On March 2, Canada became the first country to revoke the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) status for imports from Russia and Belarus, which resulted in tariffs of 35 per cent being applied to virtually all goods entering Canada from these two countries.
In June, G7 Leaders committed to explore opportunities to use revenues collected through tariff measures against Russia to assist Ukraine. As the first country in the G7 to deliver on this commitment, Canada will provide $115 million—the sum of expected tariff revenues on Russian and Belarusian goods—to Ukraine through the World Bank’s Restoration Project of Winterization and Energy Resources (Re-PoWER Ukraine). This fund was recently established to facilitate grant contributions from international partners to enable the restoration of essential energy services in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of Russia’s brutal and illegal invasion, Canada has already disbursed $2 billion in direct financial assistance to Ukraine so far in 2022, and committed an additional $500 million through the Ukraine Sovereignty Bond earlier this month. Canada has also committed more than $2.5 billion in military, humanitarian, and other assistance to Ukraine this year.
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“Putin and his henchmen are war criminals, and they are attempting to use the cold as a weapon to break the spirit of the remarkable people of Ukraine. They will not succeed, and this support will help ensure that Ukraine can secure its energy infrastructure and make it through the difficult winter to come.”
Quick Facts
- Canada expects to collect up to $115 million in tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus after revoking these countries’ MFN status under the World Trade Organization on March 2, 2022.
- In addition to more than $5 billion in committed support for Ukraine so far this year, Canada is providing additional support to Ukraine through its shareholdings in international financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Since the onset of Russia’s illegal invasion, these three institutions have together committed more than $28.5 billion to support the people of Ukraine.