German official warns US not to use sanctions for industrial policy

“Yesterday the House of Representatives passed, almost unanimously, a sanctions bill that was a product of bicameral, bipartisan negotiations and includes strong sanctions against Russia, Iran, North Korea”.

Trump objected to the bill as he insists he received no help from Moscow to win the presidential race and underscores the importance of bilateral cooperation on issues such as counterterrorism and the war in Syria.

If the Republican-led Senate passes the measure, Trump will need to decide whether to sign the bill or veto it.

The House of Representatives voted 419-3 on Tuesday to impose new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea, moving the bill one step closer to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Trump repeatedly pledged during his campaign to try to boost relations with Russian Federation, but allegations that the Kremlin meddled in the vote to get him to the White House have made any signs of going soft on Moscow politically toxic. He has publically labelled Jeff Sessions “weak” and said he was “disappointed” in Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation. Instead, the House passed the new sanction bill with veto-proof majority, The Hill reports, taking away Trump’s chance to block it.

The EU and U.S. imposed the sanctions in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 as the Ukraine crisis deepened after the ouster of a pro-Moscow government.

The vast Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russian Federation and Germany has huge financial stakes for more than a dozen European energy companies.

The Kremlin warned that fresh sanctions on Russian Federation would adversely affect both sides.

The European Union frets that new USA restrictions could pose obstacles to its companies doing business with Russian Federation and threaten the bloc’s energy supply lines. That has the Europeans very anxious they’ll be penalised for supporting Russian pipeline projects.

Trump has faced accusations that his administration had sought to reassure Moscow that sanctions imposed near the end of the Obama administration could be lifted under a President Trump.

But objections to the proposals do not just come from Mr Trump.

Corker noted that with this sanctions bill his goal was “to bring back to the Senate and to Congress more of the power and control over foreign policy that for years as you know decades, generations really has been easing away to the executive branch”. The bill received strong support from both Trump’s party-members in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

“This is rather sad news from the point of view of Russia-US ties”, said Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman.

Ryabkov said: “All this is very worrying”. Should the United States president sign it into law, it would be possible to remove the sanctions only by adopting another piece of legislation.

“Opportunities for diplomatic manoeuvring” are now “extremely” small, he told Russia’s Interfax news agency.