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This article first appeared on the Atlantic Council site.

As President Donald Trump prepares for his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow at the G-20 in Hamburg, Germany, the US Department of Commerce is making two important trade decisions that threaten the economic and geopolitical stability of Ukraine.

In 2014, as Ukraine was reeling from the annexation of Crimea, and as Russian-backed separatists were battling in the Donbas, the US International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce handed down decisions that added antidumping duties on the importation of steel oil country tubular goods, a category of steel pipes important in the drilling industry.

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Because of the extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, the Department of Commerce issued a suspension agreement in September 2014 that has allowed Ukraine to make limited sales of these pipes in the United States at fair prices determined by the Department of Commerce.

These prices are set high enough in advance so as to eliminate any possibility of dumping, which takes place when the Department of Commerce concludes that the import price is less than home market price or when the import price is less than the cost of production.

The suspension agreement has provided Ukraine the ability to plan and predict its US sales, bringing stability that is not present under an antidumping order, especially during this perilous period in Ukraine.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross at the Bipartisan Policy Institute May 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty

But even as the Ukraine crisis continues and despite the small volume of Ukrainian produced steel oil country tubular goods which make up less than one percent of exports to the United States, the Department of Commerce has announced that it intends to let the US-Ukraine antidumping suspension agreement expire on July 10 and in doing sever an important lifeline for Ukraine to the West.

In addition, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has also triggered a sweeping Section 232 national security investigation of all steel imports into the United States, which threatens to further restrict Ukrainian steel imports. A similar case was brought in 2001, and the Department of Commerce concluded that steel imports had no detrimental effect on national security.

Adding insult to injury for Ukrainian steel, a major benefactor of Commerce's protectionism is the Russian steel company TMK and its US subsidiary TMK IPSCO.

According to the US International Trade Commission in 2014, TMK IPSCO is, along with US Steel, one of the two leading US mills producing steel oil country tubular goods and supplied 16 percent of the US domestic market. TMK IPSCO is owned by Dmitry Pumpyansky, a Russian oligarch and Putin ally.

In 2008, TMK acquired IPSCO from the Swedish firm SSAB. In this period, there was a massive flight of oligarchs and their money from Russia with many taking up residence in the United Kingdom, leading some writers and commentators to bill London as " Londongrad."

Pumpyansky did not leave Russia and instead sold his majority share in TMK as security for a $1.85 billion loan from Russian state banks. As of May 2017, he is back in control of TMK.

All the world will be watching when Trump and Putin hold their first meeting. It would be tragic if the Trump administrations dual steel trade decisions that have such potentially harsh consequences for Ukraine are not properly factored into US policy preparation.

The combination of the looming suspension agreement deadline and the upcoming presidential meeting has prompted Ukraines Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv to send formal letters to the US Secretaries of State and Commerce as well as the US Trade Representative requesting a continuation of the suspension agreement and an exemption from any 232 barriers that Commerce might recommend to Trump.

Contrary to the intent of US sanctions against Russia, which in the past few weeks the Senate has voted to tighten, the Trump administration's Department of Commerce decision could punish Ukraine while advancing the business interests of Putins close ally.

If this administration goes through with its plans to restrict Ukrainian steel shipments to the United States and further weaken Ukraines economy, Trump would be handling Putin a great gift at Ukraines grave expense.

Daniel Valk is the president of North American Interpipe.

Read more:
Trump Hands a Trade Victory to Putin at Ukraine's Expense - Newsweek

Ahead of a scheduled bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump on Thursday called on Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere and to end its support for hostile governments in Syria and Iran.

Western nations, he added, must also be vigilant against terrorism and keep their borders closed to those who reject our values, and who use hatred to justify violence against the innocent.

Story Continued Below

Trump spoke at Warsaws Krasinski Square, near a monument to the Warsaw Uprising, where a crowd waving American and Polish flags repeatedly interrupted his speech to chant "Don-ald Trump." Before his speech, Trump laid flowers at the monument, which commemorates a 1944 uprising against the Nazis, as the crowd shouted "glory to the heroes."

During his speech, the president heaped praise upon Poland as a longtime U.S. ally, holding it up as an example of resilient Western democracy and warning against a trio of threats such democracies face today: terrorism, Russian aggression and the steady creep of government bureaucracy.

Of the latter, a threat Trump said is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles, Western nations must remember that they became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.

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The fundamental question of our time is, whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Trump said. Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?

The trans-Atlantic alliance between the U.S. and Western Europe is as strong as ever and maybe, in some ways, even stronger, Trump said. And while the Soviet Union no longer threatens Europe, Russia continues to loom, the president said.

"Today, the West is also confronted by the powers that seek to test our will, undermine our confidence and challenge our interests," Trump said, perhaps alluding to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. "To meet new forms of aggression, including propaganda, financial crimes and cyberwarfare, we must adapt our alliance to compete effectively, in new ways and on all new battlefields."

Trump, who conspicuously made no mention of the U.S. commitment to NATOs mutual defense agreement during a visit to the treaty organizations headquarters in May, said Thursday that the U.S. has demonstrated not merely with words, but with its actions that we stand firmly behind Article 5, the all-for-one, one-for-all collective defense provision. He also praised Poland for its defense spending, an issue on which Trump has been insistent with NATO members.

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Trump: Russia must stop 'destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere' - Politico

BBC News

Trump tells Russia to stop 'destabilising' Ukraine BBC News US President Donald Trump has called on Russia to stop "destabilising" Ukraine and other countries and end support for "hostile regimes" such as those in Syria and Iran. Speaking in the Polish capital Warsaw, Mr Trump urged Russia to "join the ... Merkel and Trump Discuss North Korea, Middle East, UkraineU.S. News & World Report Trump Warns Russia Must Stop Destabilizing Actions in UkraineNBC New York The Latest: Trump-Merkel tackle NKorea, Mideast, Ukraine - Honolulu, Hawaii news, sports & weather - KITV Channel 4KITV Honolulu National Post all 1,281 news articles »

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Trump tells Russia to stop 'destabilising' Ukraine - BBC News

BBC News

Ukraine EU membership 'will become a truth' BBC News Ukraine will one day become a member of the European Union, the country's vice prime-minister for European Integration has said. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze told BBC's Hardtalk that reforms in Ukraine are bringing the country closer to membership. and more »

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Ukraine EU membership 'will become a truth' - BBC News

President Trump called Russia a destabilizing influence in Europe and the Middle East, and urged it to join the community of responsible nations, in his strongest remarks yet against the regime of Vladimir Putin, whom he is scheduled to meet Friday in Hamburg for the first time.

His remarks in Warsaws Krasinski Square, which marks the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, came after the U.S. agreed to sell Patriot missiles to Poland. The president also used the opportunity to reiterate the NATO commitment to mutual defense, a declaration he did not make during the NATO summit in May, prompting consternation among U.S. allies wary of Russias ambitions.

To those who would criticize our tough stance, I would point out that the United States has demonstratednot merely with its words but with its actionsthat we stand firmly behind Article 5, the mutual-defense commitment, Trump said Thursday. Words are easy, but actions are what matters. And for its own protection, Europe, and you know this, everybody knows this, everybody has to know this, Europe must do more.

Trump has repeatedly said NATO members must spend more on defensea position in line with past U.S. administrations. But he has been criticized because he appeared to suggest U.S. commitment to mutual defense was predicated on its allies defense spending.

Although Trump chided Russia for its role in Ukraine and Syria, he was more circumspect about the role Moscow played in interfering in the U.S. election.

I think it was Russia, and it could have been other people in other countries, he said at a news conference with Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, earlier Thursday. Nobody really knows for sure.

In fact, U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia almost certainly interfered in the 2016 election with a view to favor Trump, though they also say theres no evidence Moscows efforts succeeded.

Trump, in his remarks in Krasinski Square, laid out his vision of the threats faced by the West, and cited Polands historic experience, where for centuries it was alternately invaded by Russia and Germany, as a reminder that the defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail.

The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive, Trump said. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?

Trump has long viewed terrorism as the main threat facing the West and the Western way of life, and has wanted a coalition among like-minded nations to fight it. In this call, he has also criticized Europes open-borders policy on Syrian refugees and criticized the EU, in general, and Germany, in particular, on everything from trade to regulation. But in Thursdays remarks, Trump reserved his most pointed criticism for Russia: He condemned its actions in Ukraine, which is a major concern for Poland and other Eastern and Central European nations that are wary of Moscows attempt to reassert its dominance in its historic sphere of influence, as well its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that countrys civil war, and he urged Russia to join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defense of civilization itself.

In Moscow, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman rejected the idea Russia was destabilizing the region. He added that Russia was keenly awaiting Trumps first meeting with Putin on Friday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Hamburg.

Trumps visit to Europe is being closely watched and provides the president an opportunity for a reset in relations with Americas closest allies, which have been labeled as tense since he attended the G7 meeting in Italy in May over, in part, his comments about NATO and climate change.

Read more:
Trump, in Warsaw Speech, Criticizes Russia's 'Destabilizing' Role in Ukraine, Syria - The Atlantic