Posts Tagged ‘jackson vanick’
Kerry Backs Pairing Magnitsky Bill With Jackson-Vanik Repeal
U.S. Senator John Kerry, the influential head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supports a measure to sanction Russian officials for human rights violations as a complement to granting Russia normalized trade status.
According to “Foreign Policy” magazine, which quotes the transcript of a March 27 business meeting of the committee, Kerry (D-Massachusetts) said that pursuing the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act in conjunction with repealing the Jackson-Vanik Amendment is “the way to move forward.”
The Magnitsky bill would financially sanction and deny U.S. visas to Russian officials connected to the 2009 prison death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
While the Obama administration has concern that passing the bill would harm relations with Moscow, many senators favor it as a trade-off for repealing the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a move the administration advocates.
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Baucus meets Medvedev ahead of Russia trade debate
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is on his way back from Russia after meeting with outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev, just months before a congressional debate over whether to establish permanent normalized trade relations with Moscow.
The visit was highly coordinated with the Obama administration, according to an aide to Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Baucus is anticipating a debate over granting Russia permanent normalized trade relations (PNTR) status — which would also require the repeal of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment — sometime this spring or summer. By then, Russia will be a full member of the World Trade Organization, and U.S. businesses would be at a disadvantage in doing business in Russia if the PNTR issue is not resolved, according to Baucus.
“Expanding trade with Russia could mean billions of dollars of new opportunities for American businesses, ranchers and farmers and create thousands of jobs here at home. But Russia has to play by the rules, and having Russia in the WTO will help to make that happen,” the senator said in a statement.
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