Posts Tagged ‘jackson-vanik’
US business hopeful Congress passes Russia trade bill in Sept
Reuters
A U.S. business group on Tuesday said they were hopeful Congress would approve a bill to upgrade U.S. trade relations with Russia after it returns from a month-long break and warned that U.S. companies would lose business if lawmakers don’t act.
Dan Flaherty, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, said the group was gearing up its lobbying efforts for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Sept. 12, which it hopes will be followed by quick Senate action.
If not, U.S. exporters will be left at a significant disadvantage to competitors in Europe, Asia and elsewhere around the world after Russia formally enters the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, Flaherty said.
“Our European friends are already in the market in a major way. (Failing to approve the Russia trade bill) is an invitation for them to solidify and expand their presence in areas where we would be more competitive,” he said.
Congress is under pressure to approve “permanent normal trade relations” with Russia by repealing a Cold War provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which ties normal U.S. tariff rates for Russia to emigration issues.
The White House has judged Russia to be in compliance with Jackson-Vanik for nearly two decades, but the measure remains on the books and is at odds with WTO rules requiring members to provide each other “unconditional” normal trade relations.
Business groups, which have been working for months to win approval of PNTR, are concerned the issue could be delayed until after the November presidential and congressional elections or even into 2013, if lawmakers don’t act quickly in September.
In Geneva, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy told Reuters he was optimistic Congress would approve PNTR in the coming weeks because “if U.S. was not to do this, this probably would be a disadvantage for U.S. business.”
Flaherty told reporters he understood Republican leaders in the House of Representatives planned to bring up the Russia PNTR bill on Sept. 12 under a procedure usually reserved for non-controversial legislation.
The bill is expected to be combined with human rights legislation known as the “Magnitsky bill,” and would require a two-thirds vote for approval, instead of a simple majority, because of the expedited approval procedure, he said.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican, said in early August the House was prepared to vote on PNTR and the Magnitsky bill when lawmakers return “should the Senate and President (Barack Obama) commit to support passage before the end of September.”
A spokesman for Cantor on Tuesday referred reporters to that statement and said he could not confirm that the vote had been set for Sept. 12.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, did not immediately respond to a query on the possibility of Senate action in September.
Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, estimated that as many as 80 House Democrats would have to join with Republicans to get to the approximately 290 votes needed for approval in that chamber.
A House vote in early September would put pressure on the Senate to take up the issue in the few legislative days left before the elections, he said. payday loan микрозайм онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займы на карту срочно
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House aims to take up trade bill in September
A leading business coalition expects the House to take up a bill that would extend normal trade ties to Russia shortly after returning from the summer break.
The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) expects the House to hold a vote Sept. 12 on a bill that combines provisions providing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Russia with human-rights legislation.
“If the House acts that early in September, there should be a good bit of momentum going forward in Senate,” Bill Reinsch, NFTC’s president told reporters Tuesday, on the eve of Russia joining the World Trade Organization.
Russia completes its accession to the World Trade Organization on Wednesday but Congress didn’t repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik provision, which would have provided normal trade relations between the two nations, before leaving for the August recess.
“Sen. [Harry] Reid hasn’t said anything about this in a very long time, but it would be big news if the House passes it on suspension, there would be a lot of momentum,” Reinsch said.
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Trade Relations With Russia
Congress was supposed to pass a bill to improve trade relations with Russia before it left town for summer recess. That did not happen, and American companies that do business in Russia, or want to, may find themselves at a disadvantage with foreign competitors once Russia joins the World Trade Organization on Aug. 22.
The issue hangs on an anachronism called the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was enacted in 1974 to pressure Moscow to grant Jews the freedom to leave the country by effectively imposing higher tariffs on imports from the Soviet Union. Two decades later, Jewish emigration is no longer a problem, but the law is.
Since 1992, American presidents have waived application of the law and granted Russia temporary, normal trade status, which allows lower import duties. With Russia becoming the last major economy to win admission to the W.T.O., that status needs to be made permanent. If Jackson-Vanik is not lifted, the United States will be in violation of W.T.O. rules. And American exporters will have to pay higher tariffs to Russia to enter its markets than European and Asian competitors do. The fallout for American workers should be obvious.
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How Not to Pass a Bill
Among the many things the House never got around to doing before shutting down for the summer was holding a vote on a bill that would have granted permanent normal trade relations to Russia.
Please don’t turn the page.
Yes, compared with its inability to pass a farm bill, this may sound like small potatoes. But it is a near-perfect illustration of the way the House Republican leadership has largely abdicated its responsibility to get useful things done — as opposed to, say, conducting votes to repeal Obamacare a few dozen times.
There wasn’t much controversy over the Russia bill. Business supported it because American companies could then take advantage of Russia’s imminent entry into the World Trade Organization. It would have required repealing the old Jackson-Vanik amendment, which links trade to the emigration of Russian Jews. But that’s been a nonissue for decades. The Senate was lined up to pass the bill quickly once the House acted.
Many Russian opposition figures, like Garry Kasparov, supported it for a different reason. It had been paired with something called the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. Magnitsky, you may recall, was the young Russian lawyer who tried to expose a huge tax fraud involving a number of high-ranking officials. His efforts led to his imprisonment, where he was grossly mistreated and deprived of medical treatment. And he died. The Magnitsky act would prevent his jailers — and other human rights abusers — from entering the country, and it would have frozen their assets as well.
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US Congress postpones signing Magnitsky Act
The US Congress has postponed its final vote on the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.
The law, which has already overcome several major hurdles in the US Congress, was scheduled to go to the floor vote on 3 August before Congress broke for summer recess. However, the house announced at the end of last week that it would delay both voting on the law and on passing the bill to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) until Congress resumes in September.
The Act is part of a bill to repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, which the US introduced to prevent the former Soviet Union, and other countries that restricted the emigration of their citizens, from enjoying PNTR with the US. The PNTR bill was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee two weeks ago.
WTO rules stipulate that member states must grant each other unconditional trading rights. As a result, this repeal is highly desired by US companies, which, after 22 August, when Russia finally joins the World Trade Organisation, will trade with Russia at a disadvantage to other WTO members until PNTR is granted.
In spite of the delays, the upcoming votes mark a key turning point as the US government finally bows to pressure by campaigners to name and shame those involved in the Magnitsky ordeal and similar human rights violations in Russia. Magnitsky, a partner at Moscow-based law firm Firestone Duncan, died in a Moscow prison on 16 November after being held without trial for almost a year on charges of tax evasion.
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Mixing Human Rights and Trade Relations: Dealing with Today’s Russia
After trying for some two decades, Russia will join the World Trade Organization, or WTO, later this month. For the Kremlin, it’s a hugely symbolic moment. Russia has joined the club.
Russia’s entry to the WTO should make it easier for nations to trade with them. By some estimates, the US could double its exports to Russia in the next five years.
But there’s a catch: A Cold War law remains on the books, which prevents normal trade relations between the two countries. It’s a law that many US businesses, ranchers and farmers want removed immediately. American Unions want Congress to take a tougher stance with Russia. The World’s Jason Margolis has more.
To understand why US companies won’t be able to trade freely with Russia anytime soon, we need a brief history lesson.
In the 1970’s, Soviet Jews, many of whom faced persecution, were prevented from emigrating from the USSR. Svetlana Boym was one of them. She’s now a professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Harvard University.
BOYM: “I was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. I came to the United States as a refugee. The reason I was able to enter the United States and exit the former Soviet Union was thanks to the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.”
The “Jackson-Vanik Amendment” was passed by Congress in 1974. The Amendment denied equal trading rights to countries restricting emigration. It was designed to put pressure on Soviet leaders to open their borders. Many argue it worked. Some 1.5 million Soviet Jews were able to leave.
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Russia’s Failure to Protect Freedom of Religion
Has Russia truly changed its ways on human rights? Certainly its new law restricting public protests fuels grave and widespread concerns. Moreover, in at least one key area, religious freedom, Russia has not changed in many respects. This assessment should provoke serious discussion as the United States faces decisions about its relationship with its former Cold War foe.
Russia is poised to enter the World Trade Organization later this month. To reap trade benefits from its entry, the United States would have to exempt Russia from the trade restrictions of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, which includes Russia due to its past restrictions on the right to emigrate during the Soviet period.
What should the United States do? It should continue to hold Russia accountable.
Over the past decade, the Kremlin has exploited legitimate security concerns about violent religious extremism by restricting the rights of nonviolent religious minority members. Its major tool is an extremism law. Enacted in 2002, the law imposes sanctions on religious extremism, which it defines as promoting the “exclusivity, superiority, or inferiority of citizens” based on religion. The law now applies to peaceful actors and actions. In addition, individuals who defend or sympathize openly with those charged also may face charges.
Once a higher court upholds a prior ruling that religious material is “extremist,” the material is banned, with convicted individuals facing penalties ranging from a fine to five years in prison. As of June, the government has banned 1,254 items, according to the Sova Center, a Russian nongovernmental organization.
Russian citizens who preach that their particular faith is superior to others are potentially liable to prosecution. As written, this dangerously broad law can easily entrap peaceful members of religious groups, including those among the country’s Muslims, who number from 16 million to 20 million, simply for alleging the truth or superiority of their beliefs.
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No House Vote on Bill to Lift Trade Barriers With Russia
House Republican leaders won’t bring legislation that would permanently lift trading restrictions with Russia before the congressional summer recess, a House Republican leadership aide said, delaying until the fall a debate on whether to lift one of the remaining Cold War-era economic barriers with the former American foe.
There had been a strong push to bring the legislation forward before the month-long recess begins next week. Ultimately the momentum fell short after several major labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, urged lawmakers to oppose the legislation in a concerted messaging effort last week.
The bill would permanently lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment, a measure that places trading restrictions on countries that seek to place controls on emigration. It initially became law in 1974 and was aimed squarely at Russia.
Since the end of the Cold War, the bill has been repealed annually by Congress. But with Russia set to join the World Trade Organization in August, the U.S. must permanently strike the measure from its books in order for American exporters to be able to compete for a larger share of Russian trade.
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Business groups worry that Congress will leave Russia trade bill hanging
Business groups supporting Russian trade legislation are increasingly worried Congress will leave for its five-week recess before completing the measure.
If Congress does leave before removing Russia from the terms of the 37-year-old Jackson-Vanik law, U.S. exporters will be the ones that suffer, the groups say.
Russia in August is expected to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), a move that requires the United States to repeal Jackson-Vanik, a U.S. law originally aimed at encouraging the emigration of Russian Jews with the threat of higher tariffs on Russian products.
If the United States does not lift Russia from Jackson-Vanik, the world’s sixth-largest economy will be able to raise tariffs on U.S. goods under the WTO’s rules.
“This is a mess and it is why the USA Engage and the National Foreign Trade Council are urging this Congress and this president to get their act together right now and enact Russia PNTR [permanent normal trade relations],” Dan O’Flaherty, NFTC’s vice president, wrote in a Monday blog post.
“Otherwise, American companies will not have the advantages that our negotiators have spent 19 years gaining for them in the Russian market,” he wrote.
House and Senate committees have both approved legislation to graduate Russia from Jackson-Vanik, but they disagree over a human-rights bill that has become the price for moving the Russia trade legislation.
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