The United States has published a list of Russian goods that will be subject to an increased import duty of 35%. The corresponding annex to the decision of US President Joseph Biden on the introduction of an increased duty has been published on the website of the Federal Register, it will become effective at the end of July.
In particular, additional duties of 35% will apply to the import of Russian steel, several types of aluminum products, certain minerals and ores (for example, salt, magnesite), chemical compounds (technical acids, carbonates, etc.), rubber, wood, paper, aircraft components.
The increased tariff applies only to certain types of aluminum products, while unwrought aluminum (the volume of imports from Russia in 2021 is $522.6 million) is not subject to the increased duty.
In addition, the list did not include strategic metals that the United States traditionally buys from Russia and on which it depends to a large extent, namely palladium, rhodium, nickel and titanium. In 2021, the United States bought $1.69 billion worth of palladium from Russia, and $673 million worth of rhodium (the rarest and most expensive precious metal used in various industries) from Russia. All platinum group metals are imported from Russia to the United States duty-free.
The import duty on nickel from Russia is also zero. In 2021, the US purchased this Russian metal for $158.7 million. Import duty rates for Russian titanium and titanium products will remain at the level of 5.5-15%. Last year, the US imported $108.8 million worth of titanium from Russia.
The United States also refused to increase the import duty on Russian primary pig iron. Its imports in 2021 amounted to $1.2 billion.
The Biden administration also did not change tariffs on the import of Russian fertilizers (mostly imported duty-free, not counting possible anti-dumping duties) and enriched uranium. In 2021, the United States purchased about $600 million worth of enriched uranium from Russia.
As reported, on April 27, US President Joseph Biden signed a decree to increase duties on imports of Russian goods. Then Biden stated that the customs duty would affect those goods from the Russian Federation, the import of which was not yet prohibited in the United States, and would amount to 35%.
