The passage of U.S. sanctions into law has not affected American businesses in Russia, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia Alexis Rodzyanko said on August 3, 2017.

“All those sanctions that have been codified have already existed, and there were no considerable changes,” he said.

“The question now is this: in the future, considering that the U.S. sanctions now have the force of law, while the European sanctions do not, how would it be possible to coordinate the sanctions regime? In the U.S., it is not easy to change the law, while in Europe, a change regarding the sanctions will require only administrative action,” Mr. Rodzyanko added.

On August 2, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law a bill enacting existing anti-Russian sanctions as part of U.S law. The law limits the President’s powers to cancel the sanctions and vests the U.S. Congress with final authority on repealing sanctions. The law considerably complicates the prospects of canceling sanctions in the future.

President Trump later said that the law on sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea that he signed contains unconstitutional provisions. In particular, President Trump has taken issue with Congress’s authority to second-guess his decisions to change or cancel the sanctions. Second, as far as the White House is concerned, the law imposes obligations on the executive branch that contradict the President’s exclusive constitutional right to conduct international negotiations. These provisions of the law, according to the U.S. President, contradict a number of decisions of the Supreme Court.

“As far as I understand, the U.S. President said that the law will make it more difficult for the U.S. to agree with its allies. All this says that the President did not want this law to be enacted… So far it is only his statements. The question is whether President Trump will take any legal steps in this regard,” Mr. Rodzyanko stated.