"I have repeatedly noted the importance of relations with the U.S. and hope that the new U.S. administration will realize the hopelessness of dialogue with us from the position of force and in the language of sanctions," Lukashenko said in his annual address to the Belarusian nation and parliament.
"We have always said that we are interested in normalizing political relations with the U.S. and believe it is mutually beneficial to fully restore the level of trade-economic interaction, which prior to the imposition of sanctions neared $1 billion," he said.
Washington imposed sanctions against Belarus's state-controlled petrochemical concern Belneftekhim and froze assets of its U.S. subsidiary in 2007, adding to travel bans for and the freezing of assets of senior officials including Lukashenko introduced in 2006 over human rights abuses and a lack of democracy.
The United States and the European Union, which also froze officials' assets but has eased the travel bans over recent improvements in the political climate in Belarus, have accused Lukashenko of clamping down on dissent, stifling the media and rigging elections.
