US to revoke Russia's 'most favoured nation' trade status over Ukraine invasion

The move would hold Russian President Vladimir Putin "even more accountable for his aggression against Ukraine," said Biden. "Each of our nations will take steps to deny `most favoured nation` status to Russia," added US President. 

Washington: Amid escalating war between Russia and Ukraine that entered sixteenth day, US President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the US, along with the G7 and European Union, will call for revoking "most favoured nation" status for Russia.

The move would hold Russian President Vladimir Putin "even more accountable for his aggression against Ukraine," said Biden. "Each of our nations will take steps to deny `most favoured nation` status to Russia," added US President. 

A most favoured nation status designation means two countries have agreed to trade with each other under the best possible terms -- low tariffs, few barriers to trade and the highest possible imports allowed.

The US President explained what the move means, "In the United States, we call this permanent normal trade relations, PNTR, but it`s the same thing. Revoking PNTR for Russia is going to 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 that`s already suffering very badly from our sanctions."

The step requires an act of Congress. The move was one of the multiple new actions on trade expected to be made by the Biden administration toward Russia. The United States will also ban imports of alcohol and seafood, such as vodka and caviar, from Russia, a White House official told CNN.