The Lower House of the US Congress voted Thursday to revoke Russia's trade status in response to the invasion of Ukraine, paving the way for punitive tariffs.
In coordination with his European allies, US President Joe Biden announced this measure last Friday in order to “further isolate Russia on the world stage”, but this new sanction must be approved by Congress.
The House of Representatives took a first step in this direction on Thursday afternoon, with a vote validated by the vast majority of legislators.
The Senate is expected to quickly approve the initiative, which also applies to the Russian ally Belarus. It should be a formality: Democrats and Republicans in the Upper House have already signaled their support for this measure.
By depriving Russia of its “most-favoured-nation clause”, a provision that is the basis of global free trade, Western countries are de facto isolating Moscow from international trade and claiming the right to heavily tax imports of Russian goods.
As far as the United States is concerned, only two other countries are currently excluded from this principle of reciprocity, which underpins most international trade relations: Cuba and North Korea.
Last year, the United States imported some $30 billion worth of Russian goods, including $17.5 billion in crude oil, a commodity on which Washington has just imposed an absolute embargo.
The bill currently in Congress also requires the United States to request Russia's suspension of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
All this is in addition to a battery of measures taken by Western countries in recent weeks, aimed at gradually cutting the economic and financial ties of the country led by Vladimir Putin with the rest of the world.
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