Two U.S. senators are asking U.S. federal agencies to “assertively enforce U.S. trade remedy law” against Russia as a further response to that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a March 11 letter to the International Trade Commission, Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the ITC is required to consider “all relevant factors which have a bearing on the state of the industry in the U.S.” when conducting antidumping and countervailing injury investigations. In the case of Russia, they said, that should include “scofflaw” behaviors such as using trade as a weapon to coerce neighboring countries dependent on its exports and manipulating trade flows in pursuit of “malign strategic objectives.”
In a March 21 speech on the Senate floor, Portman added that the International Trade Administration should reclassify Russia as a non-market economy, thus “making it easier to bring unfair trade cases against them” and possibly leading to higher AD and CV duties on imports of Russian goods. Portman said such a reclassification is appropriate because “up to 70 percent of [Russia’s] economy is now run by the government.” He added that the ITA was asked to take this step in fall 2021 but allegedly declined due to pressure from “a Russian delegation.”
Click here for ST&R’s comprehensive web page on U.S. trade sanctions against Russia. Click here to register for ST&R’s upcoming webinar examining these sanctions in more detail.
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