In response to "How Hillary Clinton Got Back at Putin," a comment by Eduard Lozansky on Jan. 31.
Editor,
Eduard Lozansky claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama failed to mention his support for terminating the application of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to Russia.
In fact, in a clear reference to Jackson-Vanik in his State of the Union address on Jan. 24, Obama said, "This Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing financing or new markets like Russia."
The Obama administration is fully committed to working with the U.S. Congress this year to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment to ensure equal access for U.S. companies in the Russian market.
Obama has long been a strong supporter of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. As Obama has noted, WTO accession "will lower tariffs, improve international access to Russia's services markets and hold the Russian government accountable to a system of rules governing trade behavior and provide the means to enforce those rules."
Joseph Kruzich
Press attache
U.S. Embassy Moscow
