Trump hails Ukraine coal deal

On August 2, 2017, details were reported of an agreement between the US firm Xcoal Energy & Resources and Ukraine’s state-owned energy enterprise, Centrenergo. Under the deal, signed earlier in the month, approximately 700,000 tonnes of coal are scheduled for delivery by the end of the year. The first shipment is expected to leave the port of Baltimore in August at a cost of $113 per metric ton. Xcoal is based in Pennsylvania, a state that voted for Trump in the November presidential elections.

The coal shipments are timed to arrive in Ukraine in late August or early September, allowing the country to stockpile fuel before the winter heating season begins. Ukraine previously suffered widespread power cuts during the winter of 2014/15 due to a squeeze on anthracite supplies. The country’s pro-Western authorities have been anxious to maintain US support in their standoff with Russia, which followed the 2014 ouster of Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed president.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated in a briefing that the decision to purchase American thermal coal would boost the US economy and assist in establishing global energy dominance. US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross also welcomed the deal. To mark the announcement, the president of Xcoal traveled to Ukraine.