Jackson-Vanik - the wrong impression?

Getting rid of this relic is a good thing that has been a long time coming. But I can't help but wonder whether some in Moscow might get the impression that it constitutes a successful outcome of Putin's Munich speech. And perhaps it does.

End of Jackson-Vanik Forecast
bne
Monday, February 26, 2007

America promised to lift the Jackson-Vanik trade provision from Russia last week that would lift the last of the Cold War trade restrictions on bilateral trade with Russia.

The provision was an amendment to the 1974 Trade Act, which banned the Soviet Union from preferential trade status with America, a sought after status that comes with significant duty savings. The existence of the provision 16 years after the fall of the Soviet Union has remained a thorn in the side of US-Russia relations ever since.

Democrat Tom Lantos made the comments at the end of last week just as relations between Moscow and Washington took a nose dive after President Vladimir Putin lambasted America in a speech in Germany.

They also coincide with National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley's visited Moscow last week on a fence fixing mission.

"I will spare no effort to bring this about, and I have every expectation that I will be successful," Lantos said, who has been campaigning to have Russia removed from the G8

More on the story here.