US President Joe Biden has announced that in response to the invasion of Ukraine, the United States’ trade status with Russia has been significantly downgraded and that imports of Russian seafood and other economically important goods are now banned.
The move to revoke “most favoured nation” status for Russia was taken in coordination with the European Union, NATO allies and G7 countries, with Biden stating, “we’re going to jointly announce several new steps to squeeze Putin and hold him more — even more accountable for his aggression against Ukraine”.
The President explained that favoured-nation status designation means two countries have agreed to trade with each other under the best possible terms, such as low tariffs, few barriers to trade, and the highest possible imports allowed.
“In the United States, we call this ‘permanent normal trade relations’ – PNTR – but it’s the same thing. Revoking PNTR for Russia is going to make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States. And doing it in unison with other nations that make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy that’s already suffering very badly from our sanctions.
“We’re also taking a further step of banning imports of goods from several signature sectors of the Russian economy, including seafoods, vodka, and diamonds.
“The free world is coming together to confront Putin,” Biden said. “Putin is an aggressor – is the aggressor. And Putin must pay the price.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US imported 48,867 tonnes of seafood from Russia in 2021, worth about US$1.2 billion.
Crab accounted for the largest portion of those imports, with the US buying more than $900 million worth of frozen snow and red king crab last year.
The US does not sell any seafood directly to Russia, as the country banned US exports of fish and seafood in 2014.
