Americas

Americas

U.S. May Lift Russia Trade Restrictions This Year - Envoy

26 January 2012 04:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The United States may scrap Cold-War era trade restrictions on Russia in the very near future, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Ria Novosti.

The United States has denied normal trade status with the Soviet Union and then Russia since the passage of the so-called Jackson-Vanik agreement in 1974 due to Soviet restrictions on Jewish emigration.

â€œWe will do that not in a year or two but this year,â€ he said in a live show on the Ekho Moskvy Moscow-based radio station, speaking in Russian.

Lifting the Jackson-Vanik amendment is â€œa high priorityâ€ for the United States because Russia will soon officially join the WTO and â€œif we donâ€™t lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment, that will hurt our interests.â€

â€œWeâ€™ll work very seriously on that,â€ McFaul said.

The restrictions imposed by Jackson-Vanik are often waived, but remain in place and are a thorn in the side of Russia-U.S. trade relations.