- Biden announced the US would bar imports of Russian seafood, vodka, and diamonds.
- "Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay a price," Biden said from the White House.
- It's the latest move from the US and its European allies to punish Russia for invading Ukraine.
President Joe Biden announced on Friday the US will bar all imports of vodka, seafood, and diamonds from Russia, the latest move in an escalating economic campaign to punish President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.
"Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay a price," Biden said in brief remarks from the White House. He also announced that the US and the European Union would revoke Russia's trade privileges, a step that many lawmakers in Congress had been seeking.
"It will be another crushing blow to the Russian economy," he said. "It's already suffering very badly from our sanctions."
There had been growing bipartisan calls to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and further isolate it from the global economy. The Russian economy is coming under increasing strain from Western sanctions that cut it off from its foreign currency reserves paired with an accelerating exodus of US and European companies.
Senior Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top tax-writing Senate Democrat supported it. Republicans like Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means panel, also backed the move.
Suspending normal trade relations would put Russia alongside states like Cuba and North Korea. But Biden can't act unilaterally and Congress must approve legislation to achieve it.
This story will be updated.