ArmInfo. The introduction of a 10% duty on goods from Armenia by US President Donald Trump will lead to an even greater decrease in trade turnover between the two countries. Associate Professor of the Armenian State University of Economics Aghasi Tavadyan holds a similar point of view.
In an interview with ArmInfo, the economist recalled that the trade turnover between the two countries is currently very modest. Until 2021, the export of Armenian goods to the American market accounted for only 2.5% of Armenia's total exports, while now it is 0.5%. From 2017 to 2020, export volumes amounted to $50-60 million, in 2021-2022 they increased to $80 million, and in 2023-2024 they decreased to $50 million. Armenia mainly supplied the United States with gold and precious metals, alcoholic and spirituous beverages, as well as canned goods and dairy products. Until 2021, import volumes from the United States amounted to $20 million, in 2021-2022 they increased to $346 million, in 2023. - up to $550 million, and in 2024 - decreased to $320 million. The significant increase in imports, as the economist emphasized, was due to the re-export of cars from the United States to the Russian Federation. However, after Georgia imposed a ban on the re-export of Western cars to Russia in August 2023, the scheme of their deliveries through Armenia was also destroyed. Currently, re-export from the republic has practically ceased. To a large extent, as Tavadyan noted, this was also facilitated by the introduction by Moscow of a recycling fee for deliveries by one person over one car per year, which is associated with the intention of the Russian Federation to intensify the development of the domestic automotive industry. As a result, a significant decrease in the volume of Armenian-American trade began to be observed.
Aghasi Tavadyan predicted that the reduction in trade in the near future will be significant - by 6-10 times, as a result of which the volume of trade will decrease on an annual basis to only $20 - 30 million.
Answering a question about the fate of the memorandum on strategic partnership between Armenia and the United States, signed in January of this year, the economist noted that the current White House administration is guided by the principle of "America above all". For the United States, which has recognized the multipolarity of the world, Mexico, Panama, Greenland, and a number of other countries will be among the priority countries, but not Armenia. As a result, Armenia will pay more attention to the EAEU countries and the Russian Federation than to the United States.
ArmInfo reported earlier that the duties imposed by US President Donald Trump on products supplied to the country did not bypass Armenia. By decree of the American leader, a duty of 10% is imposed on Armenian products. In general, duties for the countries of the former USSR will reach 31% - Trump imposed such a tariff for Moldova, and for Kazakhstan - 27%. For other countries of the former USSR, including Armenia, the state duty rate will be 10%.
On April 2, Donald Trump demonstrated a table with tariffs for different countries, which reach 50%. They are calculated as follows: US tariffs are set at half the tariffs of those set by other countries against the US. The US President called the decree a "declaration of economic independence". This, according to him, is due to the fact that America has been "robbed" for many years by other nations - both friends and enemies.
According to the RA Statistical Committee, in 2024, trade turnover between Armenia and the US decreased by 38.7%.
