The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved a bill in December 2023 to push for a ban on the import of nuclear materials from Russia, which is uranium-related products and is mainly used in the fuel system of nuclear power plants. Now the U.S. Senate has also approved a bill banning the import of Russian nuclear materials, which will be enacted into law after U.S. President Joe Biden signs the relevant bill. The approval of the ban bill by the US Senate comes at a time when the Biden administration is actively hyping up the alleged Chinese support for Russia's military-industrial complex. When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China, he openly threatened not to allow normal trade between China and Russia, so now the United States has a rhythm to show China.
In fact, the United States began sanctions against Russia in February 2022, including a ban on Russian energy exports, but the United States and Russia have been in trade. The United States not only imports nuclear materials from Russia, but also imports titanium alloy products from Russia, titanium alloy is a material that is needed in large quantities in the aviation manufacturing industry, and Russia is the world's main exporter of titanium alloys, so the United States has long imported titanium alloys from Russia. The United States not only maintains trade with Russia in nuclear materials and titanium alloys, in fact, the trade between the United States and Russia in the energy sector has not stopped, and the United States has recently approved an exemption from the settlement of energy transactions.
After the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, the Biden administration of the United States demanded that American companies leave Russia, and at the same time did not allow Russia to settle international trade through the international trade settlement system. The United States and the Soviet Union had a Cold War, but it did not affect the trade between the United States and the Soviet Union, and when the United States actively encircled and contained Russia, the United States still insisted on importing many scarce resources from Russia, including inert gases used in semiconductor manufacturing. Judging from the actions of the United States, in fact, the sanctions reflect the position of the United States, and the United States maintains that the United States must rely on the import of Russian products.
Although the United States has not decoupled from Russia, it is asking China to decouple from Russia, and the United States believes that China's trade with Russia supports Russia's combat operations against Ukraine, for which the United States has repeatedly threatened China, and even the U.S. Congress is pushing for a bill to sanction China and order Chinese companies to withdraw from Russia. The U.S. approach is already an obvious double standard, and at the same time, it wants China to harm its own interests to fulfill the U.S. strategy, and it is obviously difficult for the U.S. to be strong. In fact, when the United States imposed sanctions on Russia, many European banks gained huge profits in Russia, because the United States voluntarily gave up related business, and European cooperation also opened many back doors to grab benefits in Russia.
Although the House of Representatives and the Senate of the U.S. Congress have passed bills banning the import of Russian nuclear materials, in fact, judging from the content of the bill, the U.S. ban is "virtually nonexistent", because the ban will only take effect in 2040, which means that the United States will continue to import Russian nuclear materials until 2040. Obviously, the U.S. Congress is opening a back door for the United States itself, because the conflict in Ukraine will not last until 2040, so after the conflict is over, the U.S. Congress will pass another bill to provide exemptions for the import of Russian nuclear materials, which is the basic operation of the U.S. Congress.