US Trade Representative Katri Tai commented on a report from her office, released on December 21, which alleged violations by Russia of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules related to the import substitution program.
“This report provides an overview of Russia’s continuing move away from WTO guiding principles such as non-discriminatory practices, more open trade, predictability, transparency and fair competition,” she said.
The United States authorities expressed concern that “Russia continues to adopt and implement localization measures to provide benefits to both domestically produced goods and services” and noted the alleged expansion of state control over the economy.
“In the agricultural sector, Russia maintains import restrictions that are not related to science, and refuses to recognize the guarantees of other countries regarding export capacities,” the document says.
This allegedly puts American workers and entrepreneurs in an economically disadvantageous environment and makes it impossible to compete, the report says.
The US Trade Representative’s office will work with like-minded partners and use WTO tools to “hold Russia accountable for its behavior in the multilateral trading system,” the report said.
“The United States considers this path to be counterproductive – both for Russia, the Russian people, and for the world economy,” the Americans said.
In November, it became known that the European Union (EU) is challenging several Russian measures taken as part of the import substitution program. He published an official request for the formation of an arbitration group to consider a dispute with Russia on public procurement, since bilateral consultations held on September 13 did not lead to a settlement of this issue.
In July, the EU filed a lawsuit against Russia with the WTO over measures that the plaintiff said would prohibit its companies from selling goods to Russian state-owned enterprises. It was not specified what goods were in question.
The Russian Federation has expanded its import substitution programs since 2015 amid EU and US sanctions. In June, during a direct line, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country’s economic sovereignty was increasing, despite Western sanctions, restrictions only strengthened these programs.
