Russian Seafood Exported From Other Countries Target of Bill

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., who is close with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is hoping a bill he leads that would prohibit the importation of seafood with any Russian content will pass this year.

The president already issued an executive order that bans the importation of Russian seafood (see 2203110022), but Graves is concerned that a seafood product harvested in Russian waters could evade the ban by undergoing substantial transformation in another country, or by being incorporated into another product. His bill, the text of which was published July 24, has a Democratic co-sponsor, Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and the rest of the Alaska delegation sponsored a companion bill in the Senate.

If it passed, it would ban Russian seafood that is exported from other countries 90 days after it becomes law. Graves said in a brief hallway interview July 26 at the Capitol that he thought with the strong support from Sen. Dan Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans from Alaska, and the strength of anti-Russian sentiment in Congress, the bill could become law. He did not specify which countries are problematic as a path for Russian seafood entering the U.S., but said he believes there is transshipment.