Posted Apr 9, 2022, 9:07 AMUpdated on Apr 10, 2022 at 11:32
The measure almost won the unanimity of the US Congress. The Senate and the House of Representatives adopted Thursday evening the revocation of the commercial status of Russia and Belarus, in response to the war started in Ukraine. The upper house voted the text by 100 votes against 0, the lower house by 420 votes against 3, before Joe Biden finally signed the entry into force.
Washington is thus depriving Russia of its “most favored nation clause”, a basic principle of reciprocity in free trade. As a result, the United States opens the way to heavy trade sanctions and gives itself the right to severely tax imports of Russian products. This could concern in particular steel and aluminium. Only two other countries are currently deprived by Washington of this clause: Cuba and North Korea.
” No time to waste “
“We have no time to waste and we must punish Vladimir Putin immediately,” said Richard Neal, Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts. “No nation whose military commits war crimes deserves free trade status with the United States,” added Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Congress has also approved Joe Biden’s decision to impose a total embargo on Russian oil imports and is demanding that the federal government call for Russia’s suspension from the World Trade Organization (WTO). Some of these measures were passed by the House of Representatives last month as the energy law mirrors the executive order already signed by Joe Biden in early March. But elements of language remained noticeably different. Those differences had been overcome earlier in the week, clearing the way for a vote.
Rampant inflation
While Congress was working on these texts, the American Treasury announced sanctions against two new companies controlled by the Russian State: Alrosa, a mining giant which alone represents 90% of the diamonds extracted in Russia and 28% of the world market, and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), Russia’s leading shipbuilder, which has built almost all of the country’s warships.
Washington hopes that these new sanctions will further weaken Moscow. According to a White House report, which quotes experts, Russian GDP is expected to fall by 15% this year, while inflation is already approaching 15%. Total imports of Russian products last year accounted for $30 billion in the United States, including $17.5 billion in crude oil, now banned.
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