Senate votes on stripping Russia of trade status, ban on oil exploration

WASHINGTON – The Senate is expected to vote on legislation on Thursday that would suspend normal trade relations between the US and Russia, a move President Joe Biden has called March.

Lawmakers will also vote on legislation to codify the ban on oil imports from Russia, according to the Biden administration carry out those sanctions last month.

Negotiators have been working for several weeks on these measures, but some senators have delayed the process due to opposition to some of the provisions. Those proposals include sanctions on Russian gold, a rental agreement with Ukraine to provide the country with military aid and expanded sanctions on human rights violators. according to Magnitsky Act.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said Wednesday on the Senate floor that “it’s a big, big deal that we’re finally working on.”

“Putin is fully responsible for the heinous, despicable war crimes he is perpetrating against Ukraine: the images that we have seen in that country, especially in Ukraine,” he said. in the town of Bucha, just pure evil.”

Schumer continued, “Hundreds of civilians were murdered in cold blood. Men, women, children, the elderly, the defenseless; those whose hands were tied behind their backs and perished in the streets. ; civilians were shot in the back of the head; all for one reason: They were Ukrainians.”

“This is genocide,” he added.

The majority leader said revoking trade ties with Russia would be “another blow to Putin’s economy.” The House of Representatives passed a version of the bill last month and will have to vote on the legislation passed by the Senate before it reaches Biden’s desk.

The suspension of the trade relationship would end its status as a “most favored nation”, a World Trade Organization designation coined by its members that treat trading partners equally with respect to taxes. Mandarin. In the US, that situation is known as a permanent normal trade relationship, and the removal of this designation paves the way for increased tariffs on goods imported from Russia.

The Senate energy import ban bill would codify the executive action Biden took in March to block Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal from entering the United States.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here