Here Are the U.S. Top 10 Imports From Russia as Tariffs Are Set to Rise
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President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article originally appeared on MarketWatch.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and its ally Belarus in response to Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, opening the door for large tariff increases on imports of key commodities and raw materials.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the Senate will soon take up the bill, setting the stage for President Biden to sign in into law as soon as next week.
“While it has been clear all week that the House would quickly approve this bill, as of yesterday the inherently political decision to put this bill on the Senate floor had not been made, so this announcement from Schumer represents a material escalation of the sanctions investors can anticipate from the President of the United States in the coming days,” wrote Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy at Veda Partners in a Thursday note to clients.
Russia is the United States’ 26th largest goods trading partner and imports from the country account for about 1% of total American imports, though Russian sources compose a much larger share of imports of key commodities. For instance, Russian sources accounted for 53% of imports of titanium products, and if Congress revokes Russia’s permanent normalized trade status tariffs on those goods could rise from 15% to 45%. Other commodities that could be affected include aluminum, steel, and gold.
President Biden has legal authority to adjust tariff rates in the event that permanent normal trade relations with Russia are revoked.
Here are the top 10 products imported from Russia in 2021, according to a Congressional Research Service analysis published Thursday:
President Biden announced a ban on imports of Russian oil and certain petroleum products last week, along with bans on other goods like seafood, vodka and diamonds, so several items on the list above won’t be available for import even at much higher customs rates.
Russia uses hypersonic missiles in strike on Ukraine arms depot
Russia's Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing that the underground depot hit by the Kinzhal system on Friday housed Ukrainian missiles and aircraft ammunition, according to a recording of the briefing shared by Russian news agencies.
Reuters was not able to independently verify Konashenkov's statements.
A spokesperson for Ukraine's air force command confirmed a Russian missile strike on Delyatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region on Friday, without giving further details.
Yahoo Immersive: Where are Russian forces attacking Ukraine?
The Kinzhal missiles are part of an array of weapons unveiled in 2018.
Konashenkov added on Saturday that Russian forces had also destroyed military radio and reconnaissance centres near the Ukrainian port city of Odessa using the Bastion coastal missile system.
Moscow refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special operation" to weaken its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it calls dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and Western countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Frances Kerry and Helen Popper)
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