WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will announce Friday that the United States, along with the European Union and the G7, intends to remove Russia’s most favored nation trade status over its invasion of Ukraine.
This is reported by a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the announcement. This person said that each country would have to follow its own national processes. Depriving Russia of most favored nation treatment would allow the US and its allies to impose tariffs on Russian imports, further isolating the Russian economy in response to an invasion.
Biden’s move comes as bipartisan pressure is mounting in Washington to cancel what is officially known as “permanent normal trade relations” with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the US and its allies to take action against Russia in a speech to Congress over the weekend. This comes days after Biden made the decision to ban imports of Russian oil and gas products.
Biden, after an initially slow congressional effort to take trade action against Russia, should have supported lawmakers’ efforts to do just that on Friday.
The White House said Biden will speak Friday morning to announce “actions to continue holding Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine.”
On Monday, Democrats from the powerful House Ways and Means Committee published and then removed an announcement for a bipartisan bill to ban Russian oil imports and impose more trade sanctions on the country, aide said due to White House opposition to acting before. how Biden coordinated with allies and made decisions on both issues. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a narrower bill to ban energy imports from Russia after Biden imposed the ban in an executive order.
Canada became the first major US ally to strip Russia of its most favored nation status last week.
Biden’s actions were first reported by Bloomberg News.