House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement on Friday that legislation to revoke Russia’s “’most favored nation” trade status has already been prepared, and that the House plans to vote on it next week.
Pelosi said that “the House is already ready with legislation to revoke PNTR from Russia in coordination with the President and our allies.”
“When the House returns next week, we will take up legislation to formalize this revocation, and it is our hope that it will receive a strong, bipartisan vote,” she added. “Putin’s premeditated, unprovoked war is an attack on the Ukrainian people and an attack on democracy — and the House remains steadfast in our commitment to partnering with President Biden and our allies to level swift, severe punishment and stand with the Ukrainian people.”
The announcement comes as the international community seeks to further economically isolate Russia after it began its invasion two weeks ago into Ukraine.
Earlier on Friday, President Biden announced that the United States and other Group of Seven (G-7) nations would be revoking Russia’s “Permanent Normal Trade Relations” (PNTR) status, which allows for Russian goods to be subject to lower tariffs in the U.S. compared to countries that sell to the U.S. and do not have that status.
Biden signaled in his address that the effort had support from both parties.