{"id":21603,"date":"2025-03-05T20:35:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T01:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=21603"},"modified":"2025-03-06T10:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:24:03","slug":"wyden-merkley-colleagues-reaffirm-congress-authority-to-maintain-trade-restrictions-on-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-colleagues-reaffirm-congress-authority-to-maintain-trade-restrictions-on-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Reaffirm Congress\u2019 Authority to Maintain Trade Restrictions on Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Washington D.C.\u2014<\/em><\/strong>U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., today led Senate colleagues, including Senator Jeff Merkley, in a letter to Donald Trump reaffirming Congress\u2019 authority to maintain trade restrictions on the Russian Federation while it continues its war of aggression against Ukraine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cVladimir Putin is a ruthless dictator who has led the Russian Federation into a war of aggression against Ukraine with the explicit goal of denying Ukraine and its people their collective rights to independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong>wrote the senators after Trump sandbagged talks&nbsp;between the United States and Ukraine last Friday and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-says-ukraine-should-never-have-started-it-remarks-war-russia-rcna192710\">claimed<\/a>&nbsp;Ukraine \u201cshould have never started [the war].\u201d<strong>\u201cOur country, in coordination with our allies and partners and with bipartisan support has imposed sweeping financial sanctions, stringent export controls, and aggressive trade restrictions on the Russian Federation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2022, Congress passed the&nbsp;<em>Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act&nbsp;<\/em>which revoked Russia\u2019s permanent normal trade relations status to ensure Russian goods and services do not enjoy privileged, \u201cmost-favored nation\u201d access to the U.S. market. Congress also passed the&nbsp;<em>Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act<\/em>&nbsp;which banned the importation of all energy products from the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to these laws, the Russian Federation must reach an agreement relating to the withdrawal of its forces and cessation of military hostilities that is accepted by the free and independent government of Ukraine, recognize the right of the people of Ukraine to independently and freely choose their own government, and pose no immediate military threat of aggression to any NATO member before the president can restore normal trade relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cIn light of your worrisome statements, we wish to remind you that you must not\u2014and cannot, under statute\u2014attempt to restore normal trade relations or lift the import ban on Russian energy products unless and until Ukraine\u2019s peace demands are met and their free and independent government has accepted a peace agreement,\u201d&nbsp;<\/strong>continued the senators.<strong>&nbsp;\u201cUkraine must be at the table to determine its future, and conditions for peace cannot be imposed on Ukraine.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The letter was led by Wyden and Cortez Masto. In addition to Wyden, Cortez Masto and Merkley the letter was signed by Senators Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Peter Welch, D-Vt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full text of the letter is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cortezmasto.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Letter-to-Trump-Re-Russia-Trade-Relations.pdf\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A web version of the release is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyden.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/wyden-merkley-colleagues-reaffirm-congress-authority-to-maintain-trade-restrictions-on-russia\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington D.C.\u2014U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., today led Senate colleagues, including Senator Jeff Merkley, in a letter to Donald Trump reaffirming Congress\u2019 authority to maintain trade restrictions on the Russian Federation while it continues its war of aggression against Ukraine.&nbsp; \u201cVladimir Putin is a ruthless dictator who has led the Russian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":18846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-21603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-foreign-policy-and-national-security"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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