Russian PM Medvedev: “The U.S. Just Declared Full-Blown Trade War On Russia”
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Aug 2, 2017
Several hours after President Trump officially signed the new Russian sanctions into law – despite his reservations and his statement that while he favors “tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed” – Russia has responded, and moments ago, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on his FaceBook page that any hope of improving Russian relations with the new US administration are dead, that the Trump administration demonstrated complete impotence “in the most humiliating manner”, transferring executive power to Congress, and most notably, that the US just declared a full-blown trade war on Russia.
From Medvedev’s facebook page:
The signing of new sanctions into law against Russia by the US president leads to several consequences. First, any hope of improving our relations with the new US administration is over. Second, the US just declared a full-fledged trade war on Russia. Third, the Trump administration demonstrated complete impotence, and in the most humiliating manner transferred executive powers to Congress. This shifts the alignment of forces in US political circles.
What does this mean for the U.S.? The American establishment completely outplayed Trump. The president is not happy with the new sanctions, but he could not avoid signing the new law. The purpose of the new sanctions was to put Trump in his place. Their ultimately goal is to remove Trump from power. An incompetent player must be eliminated. At the same time, the interests of American businesses were almost ignored. Politics rose above the pragmatic approach. Anti-Russian hysteria has turned into a key part of not only foreign (as has been the case many times), but also domestic US policy (this is recent).
The sanctions codified into law will now last for decades, unless some miracle occurs. Moreover, it will be tougher than the Jackson-Vanik law, because it is comprehensive and can not be postponed by special orders of the president without the consent of the Congress. Therefore, the future relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States will be extremely tense, regardless of the composition of the Congress or the personality of the president. Relations between the two countries will now be clarified in international bodies and courts of justice leading to further intensification of international tensions, and a refusal to resolve major international problems.
What does this mean for Russia? We will continue to work on the development of the economy and social sphere, we will deal with import substitution, solve the most important state tasks, counting primarily on ourselves. We have learned to do this in recent years. Within almost closed financial markets, foreign creditors and investors will be afraid to invest in Russia due to worries of sanctions against third parties and countries. In some ways, it will benefit us, although sanctions – in general – are meaningless. We will manage.
And now, we await a similar trade way announcement by the European Union.
