On Thursday. June 26 the US Chamber of Commerce along with the National Association of Manufacturers are planning on running newspapers ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post - giving a stern warning that even more Russia sanctions risks ruining US workers jobs as well as businesses, claims an anonymous person who knows very well of these plans, cited by Bloomberg.
Leaders from both the US and European Union have made it clear to Russia that it risks a new set of sanctions on its economy sector unless that is it takes the necessary actions to de-escalate the crisis that has been on-going in Ukraine. Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed members of her party that sanctions created to affect Russia's $2 trillion economy have been put on the agenda for a meeting of EU leaders to be held June 26-27.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been busy with his own plans. He requested that Russian lawmakers take away his authority to use force when it comes to the Ukraine. Also, Putin flew to Vienna to highlight a deal agreed on between Russia's Gazprom and Austria's OMV to create a natural gas pipeline.
The advertisements made up by the business organizations claim that "the only effect" of more sanctions would be "to bar US companies from foreign markets and cede business opportunities to firms from other countries," according to a copy provided by the person familiar with the plans, as stated in a Bloomberg article.
Written up as a joint statement from Jay Timmons and Thomas Donohue, who are presidents of the manufacturers association and the chamber, the ads do not name Obama specifically. Instead though, they point out actions that are being considered by "some US policymakers."
Spokeswoman for the chamber, Sally-Shannon Birkel, did not wish to comment on the subject matter, according to Bloomberg. The manufacturers association representatives did not respond quickly to requests for comments pertaining to the ad.
Laura Lucas Magnuson, a White House National Security Council spokeswoman, stated in an e-mail that the administration has had "frequent conversations with business leaders on this issue since the beginning of the crisis to understand their concerns." The US can't proceed with "business as usual," she said.
Speaking of business - especially the financial aspect of it - there is a sense of hesitation in Europe, with the UK being worried over financial services, France stressing over military sales, Italy biting its nails over luxury goods, and Germany showing grave concern about the overall trading atmosphere with Russia.
Officials in the US claim that the sanctions in place against Russia have fueled a record-breaking $60 billion capital outflow in the very first quarter of this year along with the losses in Russia's stock market and the nation's currency. To illustrate, Russia's Micex Index shot up 2.2 percent to 1,518.83 by the close in Moscow. It is notable to point out that this is the highest it has been since October 22, right after Putin looked to cancel the use of authority.
It it fair to highlight that US companies are very worried over the thought of more sanctions against Russia especially those pertaining to the economy. Should the US impose even more sanctions on the Russian Federation, American businesses could be hurt in more ways than one by this move. In turn, thousands of jobs could be lost on American soil, due to Washington's selfish sanctions it thinks shows the world its power, when actually it may possibly be the reason more Americans lose their jobs.
Comment: Putin must be laughing and saying "I told you so"!