US President Joe Biden on April 8 signed a bill that suspends normal trade relations with Russia, a step that will raise duties on US steel products and other imports from that country at different levels.
The legislation to strip Russia of its trade status passed Congress on April 7 after a Senate vote was delayed for weeks. The trade action was first introduced by Biden on March 11 to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
Normal trade relations, or “most-favored-nation” trade status, also was stripped from Belarus for its support of Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.
The legislation authorizes the president to implement higher duty rates on certain products imported from Russia and Belarus until January 2024, and the president may reinstate with either country normal trade status, subject to Congressional approval.
In addition to suspending the trade status, Biden also signed standalone legislation to ban the importation of energy products from Russia.
The US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, issued by the US International Trade Commission, lists different duty rates for favored trade partners (column 1 duties) and non-favored trade partners (column 2 duties).
The revocation of MFN status would place US imports from Russia and Belarus under column 2 duties.
For metals, duties on US imports from Russia and Belarus could rise up to 18.5% for most unwrought aluminum, 100% for magnesium, 45% for cobalt alloys, 25% for nickel sulfate and 20% for finished steel, said the tariff schedule.
Metal imports from Russia have been falling in the US since 2017 The U.S. Aluminum Association said the U.S. has lessened its exposure to aluminum imports from Russia in recent years.
"The US has a long historical pattern of importing large volumes of primary unwrought aluminum from Russia," the association told S&P Global Commodity Insights April 11. “The Aluminum Association and some of its member companies have engaged in unfair trade cases in recent years concerning imports of 7606 (HS code for aluminum plate, sheet) and 7607 (aluminum foil), including, but not limited to, imports from Russia.”
The US aluminum industry has similarly diversified away from Russian primary aluminum since earlier sanctions were temporarily imposed in 2018, the trade group said, noting that the Russian share of US aluminum supply has dropped to 5.5% from 13.5% in 2017.
US aluminum imports from Russia numbered 242,480 mt in 2021 out of total imports of 5.56 million mt, US Commerce Department data show. Russian imports in 2021 were down from 772,809 mt in 2017.
Likewise, steel imports from Russia declined to 1.47 million mt in 2021 from 2.87 million mt in 2017. But steel shipments to the US from Russia are up from 977,079 mt in 2019.
