United States, Canada Continue To Impose New Sanctions On Russia

While White House officials have said the United States will not place an embargo on Russian oil, a growing chorus of bipartisan voices are calling for President Joe Biden to take that step.

Indeed, on March 3 a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers introduced legislation that would ban U.S. oil and petroleum product imports from Russia. The legislation is cosponsored by Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said she supports the bill.

The United States imported more than 800,000 barrels of oil from Russia per day in mid-2021, but that number had fallen by half by December.

The White House has argued an embargo would cause gas prices to move even higher, but late last week White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “We are looking at options we could take right now to cut U.S. consumption of Russian energy.”

The Metals Service Center Institute has not taken a position on this matter and is simply reporting this information for its members’ benefit.

Additionally, on March 2, the White House announced the U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed export controls on oil and gas extraction equipment and technology.

Last week, Connecting the Dots reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce had imposed export controls on Russian products in general. The department took that measure a step further on March 2, announcing that it has extended those controls to Belarus. That final rule took effect immediately and is designed to prevent Belarus from accessing items that would support its military capabilities from both the United States as well as certain foreign-produced items that contain or are based on U.S.-origin technology and software subject to the Export Administration Regulations.

Also on March 2: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions on Russia’s defense sector, including 22 Russian defense-related entities, as well as companies that make combat aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and electronic warfare systems. There could be more sanctions to come this week.

The Biden administration has said it is working closely with officials from the European Union to write a regulation that would remove several Russian banks from SWIFT, the international messaging system used by financial institutions for secure and rapid cross-border payments. (The European Commission already has disconnected seven Russian banks.)

Click here to read more about other measures the United States could take or has taken.

The Canadian government also took additional measures last week. On March 3, it announced officials had removed Russia and Belarus’ most-favored nation trading status. As a result, a tariff rate of 35 percent is now applicable on virtually all imports from these countries. Russia and Belarus join North Korea as the only countries whose imports are subject to Canada’s General Tariff. Read more here.