Top Democratic and Republican lawmakers vowed to push forward with their campaign to suspend Russia’s preferential trade relations with the U.S. and clear the way for tariff increases after the provision was removed from a House bill banning the nation’s energy imports.

Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee responsible for trade, promised bipartisan action next week when his party’s members return from a retreat to Philadelphia. The idea is supported by Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Mike Crapo, the top senators on the Finance Committee, and Kevin Brady, the chief House Republican on trade.

Legislation passed by the House on Wednesday night bans the importation of Russian oil and gas and calls for an evaluation of the nation’s membership at the World Trade Organization. But it removed the provision addressing Russia’s so-called permanent normal trade relations, or PNTR, with the U.S. after a request from the White House.

“Congress should do more to stand up to Putin and protect the Ukrainian people,” Neal said. “Our response to this horrific, unprovoked war cannot end here.”

The moves by the heads of the trade committees could mean amending the House-passed oil ban in the Senate before it becomes law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Wednesday she wants to get Russia’s permanent normal trade relations status revoked.

PNTR Needed

Crapo, a senator from Idaho, wants to amend the House-passed energy embargo with his and Wyden’s bill that addresses PNTR, and is pushing for a quick mark-up, adding thta the House bill’s language on the WTO is “meaningless” without addressing PNTR.

“That is certainly what I want to do,” he said in an interview. “I don’t know why they backed off.”

Suspending normal trade relations with the U.S., which other countries call most favored nation status, would put Russia in the company of Cuba and North Korea. It would allow the U.S. to hit Russia with significantly higher tariffs than it applies to other WTO members, which has as a core principle non-discrimination among members and treating all members equally.

A White House official said the Biden administration is working with allies on the issue of Russia’s trade status, which is linked to its rights as a WTO member.

The European Union said last week that it’s seeking to remove Russia’s most-favored nation status, and Canada withdrew the designation for Russia.

Russia is far more dependent on the EU than the U.S., selling about one-third of its exports to the bloc, versus just 5% to the U.S. in 2020, according to International Monetary Fund data compiled by Bloomberg. The EU sent just 1.5% of its exports to Russia, compared with less than 1% for the U.S.