▲ After surviving the Russian airstrike on a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Mariana Vishegirskaya rests after giving birth to her daughter Veronika, who is hugged by her father.Photo App
Afp, Reuters and Europe Press
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday March 12, 2022, p. 4
Washington. The United States and its allies in the G-7 and the European Union (EU) have indicated that they will revoke the status of MFN
to Russia, which means more tariffs and barriers in trade relations with Moscow, President Joe Biden reported yesterday, adding that this group of nations excluded Russia from the normal reciprocity regime that governs trade and that they will stop vodka imports, Russian diamonds, fish and seafood.
Putin must pay the price, he cannot start a war that threatens the foundations of international peace and stability and then ask the international community for help
Biden indicated.
In another statement, the White House said that the president would prohibit US investments in Russia outside the energy sector, and that the G-7 countries would move to block Moscow from the resources of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Russia would thus join Cuba and North Korea, the only countries excluded by the world’s leading power from the principle of reciprocity, the basis of most international trade relations.
In the United States, the elimination of the status of ongoing normal business relationships
Russia will require an act of Congress, but lawmakers from both chambers – and from both parties – have already expressed their support.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) requires that any trade advantage, such as a tariff reduction granted by one member, automatically apply to all others. Moscow, which joined the body in 2012, has since benefited from this regime. Specifically, depriving Russia of this status would allow its trading partners to impose higher customs duties on it, penalizing its exports.
In 2021, the United States imported some $30 billion worth of Russian goods, including $17.5 billion worth of crude oil, a commodity on which Washington has just imposed a full embargo. Biden and the EU in turn prohibited the export of luxury products to Russia. The G-7 will add new names of Russian oligarchs and their families who will be subject to sanctions.
These financial tools have led the Russian ruble to lose 76 percent of its value against the US dollar over the past month, leading to destructive inflation.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced a new round of sanctions against Russia for the military offensive on Ukraine, including banning the export of luxury goods, which seeks to further isolate Putin commercially. The measure will take effect today and will include a ban on imports of Russian iron and steel products.
The British government included 386 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, on its list of people and entities sanctioned as a result of the offensive against Ukraine, for having supported the aggression.
