US companies alarmed by Russia sanctions bill

The Hill

American companies are worried that human-rights legislation being linked to a must-pass Russian trade bill could wind up sanctioning them and their business interests.

On Tuesday, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and sister group USA Engage publicly came out against the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which will be marked up in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday and is moving in the Senate.

The groups said that, in addition to hurting U.S.-Russian relations, the bill would expose American companies to the risk of having their assets frozen.

The bill was drafted in response to the death, in prison, of Russian whistleblower Magnitsky.

Congressional sponsors want the bill linked with or incorporated into another bill granting Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status, something the United States wants to do by August, when Russia is to join the World Trade Organization. Unless trade relations are normalized by then, U.S. exports to Russia would face higher tariffs than those from other nations.

The sanctions proposal has businesses balancing the possibility of heightened Russian trade barriers against the risk of being ensnared in a new U.S. sanctions regime.

As drafted, the sanctions bill goes beyond punishing the alleged killers of Magnitsky. It would set up a public list of persons responsible for “gross human-rights violations.” Persons, or “entities,” on the list would be denied visas to the United States or have their assets frozen.

The NFTC said the bill “would include subsidiaries of foreign companies incorporated in the United States whose parent’s conduct anywhere in the world would cause them to be sanctioned based on an opaque and unspecified process.”

The groups are especially worried that the bill would empower the chairmen and ranking members of 10 congressional committees to sponsor people or entities for sanctions. The U.S. Secretary of State would have to justify keeping any individual off the list, creating a political confrontation. NFTC said lawmakers could try to nominate Chinese leaders, thereby upsetting a major U.S. trading partnership.

NFTC representatives on Tuesday said a broader coalition of businesses supporting PNTR has decided to remain “agnostic” on the human-rights legislation in order to focus on the positive aspects of Russia trade. Those businesses asked NFTC and USA Engage to spearhead the lobbying effort against the Magnitsky bill.

The groups are trying to get the bill changed in committee before it reaches the floor of either chamber, where sanctions bills typically pass overwhelmingly, NFTC President Bill Reinsch said.

The groups are pleased that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has come out in favor of a “clean” PNTR bill but are worried that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who favors strong Russia trade, has not come out against any link to the human-rights measure.

One option being pursued is getting the business-friendly Senate Banking Committee to use parliamentary procedures to gain a role in crafting the bill, which is currently in the hands of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The groups are urging lawmakers to water down the bill so that it only deals with visa restrictions, rather than asset freezes.

Reinsch said the sponsors of the sanctions bill only intend for it to apply to the “thugs” committing human-rights abuses, and not entities like accountants or computer makers only tangentially related to them. Still, he said, the draft bill does not contain the precise language to prevent such a wide interpretation.

The business groups are lobbying against any effort to put PNTR and the Magnitsky measure on hold until after the election, since U.S. exports could suffer after August.

“The companies feel an urgency to get PNTR before or soon after Russia accedes,” NFTC representative Dan O’Flaherty said. “This offends the Russians. They are afraid they will buy Komatsu instead of Caterpillar, Airbus instead of Boeing. Delay is not going to solve the problem.”

As of Tuesday, chief Senate sponsor Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) was still trying to link the sanctions bill to PNTR, USA Engage Director Richard Sawaya said. займы без отказа микрозайм онлайн https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php займы на карту без отказа