Anti-Russia sanctions are punishing the US economy – AmCham president
Penalties against Russia mostly cripple US businesses, including the major firms, which have to suffer heavy losses due to the latest bans, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia has said.
“During our visit to Washington one of the US corporations said that the potential impact might be quite significant. The firm currently works in Russia and is now forced to suspend both short and long-term contracts...the company alone may lose around a billion dollars,” Alexis Rodzianko, the Chamber's president and CEO, told RIA Novosti.
He added that German businesses projected losses of up to €10 billion due to the penalties against RUSAL, Russia’s largest aluminum producer. Businesses are currently trying to exert some influence on the authorities’ decision and have succeeded so far, according to Rodzianko, who cites the extending of the time limit for satisfying the requirements by almost five months.
The Chamber's president highlighted that the very fact of mentioning RUSAL by the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was unprecedented. Last month, the US Treasury said that Washington may cut or lift the sanctions from the world’s second-largest aluminum producer by output, if its owner Oleg Deripaska sold his stake in the company.
Rodzianko said that the US penalties started to change the market in favor of US business rivals. The official mentioned automaker Ford and its best-selling full-size truck Ford F150 as an example. “The company uses a lot of aluminum for manufacturing of the vehicle to make it as lightweight as possible. If RUSAL stops supplies to the US, the company won’t be able to meet the market demand,” he said.
Russia 'should gradually rebuild their model, diversifying towards other partners who are not inclined to such harsh actions' - ex-Central Bank official on US sanctions https://t.co/yf2HdgwgTN
— RT (@RT_com) April 14, 2018
However, the US aircraft industry is set to face the biggest losses from the recent punitive measures, according Rodzianko. “If there’s no aluminum, the aircraft producers just do not see where to get it from to make up for the probable losses,” he said as quoted by the agency.
In April, the White House imposed additional sanctions on Russia for its alleged involvement in the 2016 presidential elections and “a range of malign activity around the globe.” The fresh list covers 24 individuals, including Oleg Deripaska and RUSAL controlled by him, as well as 14 major entities in different sectors of the economy.
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