About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

1 1 (March 17, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefkz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional
SResearch Service IE
Invasion of Ukraine: Russia's Trade Status,
Tariffs, and WTO Issues
Updated March 17, 2022
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed financial sanctions
and taken trade actions. Some Members of Congress have introduced legislation (e.g., H.R. 6835, H.R.
6905, H.R. 7014, S. 3725, S. 3717, S. 3786) to revoke Russia's permanent normal trade relations (PNTR)
status, which provides unconditional nondiscriminatory, most-favored nation (MFN) treatment to goods
and services traded with Russia. The proposals would suspend PNTR with Russia (and Belarus); seek to
suspend Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO); and provide authority to restore
PNTR under certain conditions. On March 11, 2022, President Biden announced his support for
legislation revoking Russia's PNTR status, in coordination with G7 countries. Removing Russia's PNTR
status would increase applicable import duties on U.S. imports from Russia, potentially impacting certain
sectors reliant on Russian inputs and raising issues under U.S. WTO obligations.
Background
During 1992-2012, Russia's normal trade relations (NTR) status was annually renewed under Title IV of
the Trade Act of 1974. The act requires the President to deny NTR status to any country that did not have
it at the time of the law's enactment on January 3, 1975, essentially covering nonmarket economy
countries (the Soviet Union and other Communist countries). It further denies NTR status as long as the
country denies its citizens the right to freedom of emigration under Section 402 of the act (the so-called
Jackson-Vanik amendment). Congress enacted the amendment in response to restrictive emigration
policies the Soviet Union implemented in 1972.
Amending Russia's trade status was tied to its WTO accession in August 2012. WTO rules generally
require each member to provide unconditional MFN treatment (i.e., a member's lowest tariff or best trade
concession) to all WTO members. To comply with WTO rules and ensure the United States benefited
from the terms of Russia's WTO membership (e.g., market access commitments), Congress passed
legislation in December 2012 that removed Title IV restrictions and provided the President authority to
extend PNTR to Russia.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11881
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most