WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday said the United States would join the European Union and other allies in stripping Russia of permanent normal trade relations and would take other steps to isolate Vladimir V. Putin’s regime as Western nations extended efforts to penalize Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The moves, which would be taken in concert with the Group of 7 countries, would allow countries to raise tariffs on Russian goods and would deny Russia the ability to borrow money from multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Mr. Biden also said he planned to sign an executive order on Friday that would ban certain imports from the Russian economy, including seafood, vodka and nonindustrial diamonds. This would deny Russia more than $1 billion in export revenues, according to White House estimates.
The president also plans to bar American exports of luxury items to Russia, including high-end watches, luxury vehicles, alcohol, jewelry and apparel, items that amount to about $550 million per year. The administration said the executive order would also give the president authority to ban new U.S. investments in other sectors of the Russian economy, beyond the existing ban on such investment in Russian energy.
In remarks on Friday, Mr. Biden said that revoking Russia’s permanent normal trade status would “make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States, and doing it in unison with other nations that make up half of the global economy will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy.”
But trade experts said the economic impact of changing Russia’s trading status would be limited, especially in comparison with some of the sweeping sanctions the administration has already announced. Russia ranked as only the 20th largest supplier of goods for the United States in 2019.
Each country will follow their own domestic process to make this change, the administration said. The European Union will be required to consult with its member countries. Canada announced last week that it would withdraw most favored nation tariffs for both Russia and Belarus, a close Russian ally.
Catie Edmondson contributed reporting.
