President Joe Biden said on Friday the G7 industrialised nations will revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” trade status, and announced a US ban on Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds, the latest steps to punish Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The move would deliver “another crushing below” to Russia, as it continues its aggression in Ukraine, Biden said. President Vladimir Putin is an “aggressor, the aggressor”, Biden said, and he must “pay a price”.
He also said the US would add new names to a list of Russian oligarchs who are sanctioned, and ban the export of luxury goods to Russia.
In a separate statement, the White House said Biden would ban US investment in Russia beyond the energy sector, and that G7 nations would move to block Russia from funds from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
“Those are the latest steps we're taking but they’re not the last steps we’re taking.” Biden said. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”.
The coordinated moves by Washington, London and other allies come on top of a host of unprecedented sanctions, export controls and banking restrictions aimed at pressuring Putin to end the largest war in Europe since World War II.
The moves have already caused the Russian economy to crater, and the IMF is now predicting that it will plunge into a “deep recession” this year.
The US is expanding sanctions on Russia to include executives of sanctioned banks and Russian banker Yuri Kovalchuk, as well as Russian lawmakers.
“Russia cannot grossly violate international law and expect to benefit from being part of the international economic order,” the White House said in a statement.
Stripping Russia of its favoured nation status paves the way for the US and its allies to impose tariffs on a wide range of Russian goods, which would further ratchet up pressure on an economy that is already heading into a “deep recession”.
Russia is among the world’s top exporters of oil, natural gas, copper, aluminum, palladium and other important commodities, and accounted for 1.9 per cent of global trade in 2020. Since lesser sanctions were imposed in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea, China has emerged as its biggest export destination.
In the US, removing Russia’s “Permanent Normal Trade Relations” status will require an act of Congress, but lawmakers in both houses — and on both sides of the political aisle — have already signaled their support.
The White House will work with lawmakers on legislation to revoke Russia’s status, administration sources said.
In 2019, Russia was the 26th largest goods trading partner of the US, with some $28 billion exchanged between the two countries, according to the US Trade Representative’s office.
The ban of US luxury exports to Russia and Belarus — including high-end watches, vehicles, clothes, alcohol and jewellery — takes effect immediately on Friday, the commerce department said in a separate statement as part of the effort to further isolate Moscow and its allies.
The US imported $1.2 billion in Russian fish and shellfish in 2021, according to the US Census Bureau, including sturgeon black caviar. America that year also imported from Russia $275 million worth of diamonds, and about $21 million in alcoholic beverages, according the Census Bureau.
Meta relaxes rules
Meta Platforms will allow Facebook and Instagram users in some countries to call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the Ukraine invasion, according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The social media company is also temporarily allowing some posts that call for death to Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
