MOSCOW (Reuters) :
New U.S. sanctions on Moscow have forced Russian business chiefs to accept that Donald Trump’s rise to power is not about to produce a “Trump Bump” in foreign investment.
After Trump became U.S. president, some investors said they would be prepared to contemplate new deals with Russian firms if they saw signs that U.S.-Russian ties were improving and U.S. restrictions on business with Russia were being relaxed. But the new sanctions, signed onto law
by Trump on Aug. 2, add new measures and codify six orders signed by President Barack Obama, making them harder for Trump to revoke.
For the business community in Moscow, the message is clear-there is no immediate prospect of Washington softening its stance towards Moscow.
“Russia faces the codification of sanctions which suggests they will be hellishly difficult to take off and are likely to remain in place for the very long term,” said Tim Ash, a strategist at BlueBay asset management in London. “The mere fact that the U.S. and Western governments … saw fit to levy sanctions on Russia sends at the least an amber light to Western business-be careful in your dealings with Russia.” The United States initially imposed financial and travel restrictions on Russia in 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine following the fall of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev.
The latest measures allow Congress to block any effort by the president to ease or lift the existing sanctions, tightens some of those sanctions, and imposes new restrictions in some sectors.
New U.S. sanctions on Moscow have forced Russian business chiefs to accept that Donald Trump’s rise to power is not about to produce a “Trump Bump” in foreign investment.
After Trump became U.S. president, some investors said they would be prepared to contemplate new deals with Russian firms if they saw signs that U.S.-Russian ties were improving and U.S. restrictions on business with Russia were being relaxed. But the new sanctions, signed onto law
by Trump on Aug. 2, add new measures and codify six orders signed by President Barack Obama, making them harder for Trump to revoke.
For the business community in Moscow, the message is clear-there is no immediate prospect of Washington softening its stance towards Moscow.
“Russia faces the codification of sanctions which suggests they will be hellishly difficult to take off and are likely to remain in place for the very long term,” said Tim Ash, a strategist at BlueBay asset management in London. “The mere fact that the U.S. and Western governments … saw fit to levy sanctions on Russia sends at the least an amber light to Western business-be careful in your dealings with Russia.” The United States initially imposed financial and travel restrictions on Russia in 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine following the fall of a pro-Moscow president in Kiev.
The latest measures allow Congress to block any effort by the president to ease or lift the existing sanctions, tightens some of those sanctions, and imposes new restrictions in some sectors.
