Below is a timeline of the Russian seafood reciprocity issue, and Sen. Sullivan’s work to resolve it:

• In 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. In response, the United States and its allies imposed a suite of sanctions. Russia then enacted retaliatory sanctions that barred the importation of any American fish into the Russian market. This created a very uneven seafood trade relationship: Russia could export as much seafood as it wants into the United States and we couldn’t export any Alaskan fish into Russia. This severely economically damaging injustice between America’s and Russia’s fishing industries continued to exist for almost a decade.
• Sen. Sullivan pressed the issue of Russian seafood trade reciprocity—encouraging the federal government to ban the importation of Russian seafood into the United States—for years prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including in numerous meetings with the Commerce Secretaries and U.S. Trade Representatives under Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden—all to get the United States to level the playing field with regard to seafood trade with Russia.
• On March 11, 2021, Sen. Sullivan pressed the issue of the lack of reciprocity in the Russian-U.S. seafood trading relationship with Wally Adeyemo, nominee to be deputy secretary of the Treasury. In their conversation, the deputy secretary committed to Sen. Sullivan to address this issue.
• On February 9. 2022, Sen. Sullivan introduced the U.S-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act, cosponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). This legislation would impose a ban on the import of all Russian seafood products into the United States, regardless of such seafood being reprocessed in another country.
• On February 15, 2022, Sen. Sullivan included a provision in the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act that directs the federal government to prohibit Russian seafood imports into the U.S.
• On February 17, 2022, Sen. Sullivan attempted to pass the U.S-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act by unanimous consent, but the bill was blocked by Senate Democrats. Attempts to pass a revised version of S.2011 later in Spring 2022 were similarly blocked by Senate Democrats.
• On February 24, 2022, Russia initiated its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
• In the days following the invasion, Sen. Sullivan relentlessly pressed senior Biden administration National Security Council, Treasury Department, Commerce Department, and White House officials to include the banning of the importation of Russian seafood into the United States as part of the President’s broader sanctions package against the Putin regime.
• On March 11, 2022, as a result of Sen. Sullivan’s advocacy, the Biden administration announced it would prohibit the importation of Russian seafood into the United States, in addition to banning goods from several other signature sectors of Russia’s economy. President Biden also announced his intention to revoke Russia’s “most-favored nation” status as a member of the World Trade Organization.
• Despite this success, it became clear that Russian seafood oligarchs began to bypass the Biden administration’s sanctions by shipping their seafood to other countries, especially China, to then have the Russian seafood transformed and shipped into the United States almost duty-free. This loophole allowed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Russian seafood to escape sanctions and make it into the U.S. market, while significantly harming Alaskan and other American fishermen.
• On April 7, 2022, Sen. Sullivan pressed Chris Magnus, then-commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB), about closing the existing loophole that gives Russian seafood non-reciprocal access to the U.S. market.
• On March 3, 2023, Sen. Sullivan pressed Troy Miller, acting commissioner of CPB, about the existing loophole that gives Russian seafood non-reciprocal access to the U.S. market.
• On March 21, 2023, Sen. Sullivan pressed the Russian seafood loophole issue with Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury.
• Throughout 2023, Sen. Sullivan pressed the Russian seafood loophole issue with high-level, senior Treasury, CPB and White House officials on a very regular basis, including in text messages and phone calls on June 9, June 23, August 6, August 13, October 24, October 25, November 21, December 8, and December 13.
• On June 15, 2023, Sen. Sullivan again pressed the continued Russian seafood prohibition issue with Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury.
• On June 15, 2023, led by Sen. Sullivan, Sens. Sullivan and Murkowski introduced the updated U.S-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act of 2023, legislation that would impose a comprehensive ban on the import of all Russian-origin seafood products into the United States. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Representatives Garret Graves (R-La.) and Mary Sattler Peltola (D-Alaska).
• On June 22, 2023, Sen. Sullivan attempted to pass the U.S-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity by unanimous consent, but the bill was again blocked by Senate Democrats.
• On August 30, 2023, Sen. Sullivan again pushed the Russian seafood loophole issue with Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the treasury, and Troy Miller, CBP acting commissioner.
• On September 26, 2023, at Sen. Sullivan’s urging, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and CBP personnel convened a seafood industry roundtable in Anchorage to discuss the Russian seafood loophole issue and to get agreement on a detailed plan to close this loophole. This was a result of Sen. Sullivan’s many discussions with both CBP and Treasury pressing them to place a meaningful prohibition on Russian seafood imports.
• On October 24, 2023, Sen. Sullivan again pressed the Russian seafood prohibition issue in a call with Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury, and continued to follow-up over the ensuing weeks.
• On December 19, 2023, Sen. Sullivan spoke on the Senate floor about the Russian seafood prohibition issue and again urged his colleagues to pass his U.S-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Act of 2023.

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  China, fishing, prohibition, Russia, seafood