The Russia Reset Part Deux - Could Congress Throw a Wrench in it?

If you caught any of the read-outs of Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Russia last week, you could tell how hard the Obama administration is pushing economic ties as the next phase of its much-hyped “reset” with Moscow (the other main takeaway from the trip, if you missed it, was a surprisingly tough speech from Mr. VPOTUS on Russian human rights and rule of law). My colleague Joe Schatz and I examined one of the roadblocks to the White House's economic outreach that Congress could throw up -- permanently normalizing trade relations.

Russia is pushing hard to join the WTO, but unless Congress lifts an old-school Cold War restriction on trade (CQ, subscription required) with Russia, our two countries won't be able to enjoy the benefits of WTO-sanctioned trade with one another. Joe is the trade guru, not me, and he explains all the complexities well in this story that could have potential diplomatic and economic repercussions for the U.S.

UPDATE, 3/14:

The same day our story ran in print, Biden wrote an op-ed published by the International Herald Tribune that lays out the White House vision for an expanded commercial relationship with Russia.

"Our trade and investment relationship is nowhere near where it could or should be," Biden wrote. "Russia was America’s 37th largest export market in 2010, and the value of goods that cross our borders with Canada and Mexico every few days exceeds the annual value of our trade with Russia."

It's a pretty stunning statistic, and in an age of growing trade imbalances, it certainly makes sense the U.S. would want to open up this market. But as the Vice President, himself, noted, it's going to take more than the WTO, it's going to take some big strides on corruption and legal standards by the Kremlin.