English Article

Sanctions on Russia

U.S., allies to end normal trade ties with Russia.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the U.S. and others in the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies would end normal trade relations with Russia as Moscow pursues its invasion of Ukraine. The G7 released a statement shortly after Mr. Biden’s speech, announcing these measures. “... Each of our nations is going to take steps to deny Most Favoured Nation status to Russia,” Mr. Biden said at the White House. “Most Favoured Nation status designation means two countries have agreed to trade with each other under the best possible terms: low tariffs, few barriers yo trade and the highest possible imports allowed.” Mr. Biden thanked both Democrat and Republican lawmakers for their support to end Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), the U.S.’s version of MFN, for Russia. He also thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for holding off on any action while he consulted allies. The White House has been under pressure from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill to continue hardening its approach to Moscow. While the closing off of trade in goods and services with the U.S. is likely not to be of significant impact on Russia on its own, the ending of trade with key European economies, implemented in concert with the U.S., is likely to hurt more. U.S.-Russia bilateral two way trade in goods and services was just under $35 billion in 2019 as per official U.S. data — the bulk of this ($24 billion) were imports of Russian goods to the U.S. Additional steps announced by Mr. Biden on Friday included an effort by the G7 to stop Russia borrowing from international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.