US President Joe Biden announced on Friday that the US will dramatically downgrade its trade status with Russia as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine and also ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds.
"The free world is coming together to confront Putin," Biden said, according to The Associated Press. He also said countries were adding new names to a list of Russian oligarchs who are facing sanctions, and the US is cutting the flow of high-end American products such as expensive watches, cars and clothing.
"We’re banning the export of luxury goods to Russia," he stated.
Biden said there would be further retaliation if Ukraine is targeted with chemical weapons, a possibility that administration officials have warned about in recent days.
"Russia would pay a severe price if they used chemical weapons," he warned.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said later lawmakers would pass legislation to formalize the trade downgrade.
"Putin’s premeditated, unprovoked war is an attack on the Ukrainian people and an attack on democracy - and the House remains steadfast in our commitment to partnering with President Biden and our allies to level swift, severe punishment and stand with the Ukrainian people," she said.
Russia has been slapped with a series of sanctions since launching its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Earlier this week, Biden announced a ban on all imports of Russian energy, including oil and natural gas.
Last month, Biden announced a series of sweeping sanctions targeting Russia, enacting penalties across industries, including asset freezes for the largest banks, debt and equity restrictions on critical mining, transportation and logistics firms and a large-scale effort to shut down access to critical technology for key Russian military and industrial sectors.
In addition, world leaders have decided to cut off Russian financial institutions from using the SWIFT money transfer system as part of ongoing sanctions against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)