Amid Western economic sanctions against Moscow earlier this year, trade between Russia and the US reached a 30-year low.
Between January and October, trade between the two nations reached $4.38 billion, a 70% decrease from the same period the previous year.
In the meantime, commerce between China and Russia is expected to reach a record high of $218 billion in the 11 months leading up to November.
The conflict in Ukraine is changing Russia’s international economic relations.
The Eurasian country’s trade with China has topped $200 billion this year and is headed for an all-time high, while its trade with the US fell to a three-decade low in July.
The value of trade between Russia and the US in July of this year was 277.3 million, the lowest since March 1993, according to the US Census Bureau. Additionally, it represented an almost 90% decline from the levels recorded at the close of 2021, just before President Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine.
The first ten months of 2023 saw $4.38 billion in trade between the US and Russia, a 70% decrease from the same time in 2022.
The decline in bilateral commerce has been mostly caused by American sanctions imposed on Moscow in reaction to the crisis in Ukraine, as the West attempts to economically isolate the Kremlin as payback for its aggressiveness.
Due to the damaging effects of the measures on Russia’s vital energy trade, the country’s current-account surplus fell by 85% between January and July of this year compared to the same period in 2022.
A prominent emerging issue within Moscow’s challenges with Western sanctions is the country’s increasing economic reliance on China – for everything from oil sales to the purchase of consumer products.
Chinese customs data revealed that trade between China and Russia reached $218 billion in the first 11 months of 2023, exceeding a $200 billion target for the year ahead of schedule.
Following the withdrawal of western automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz from the nation due to the conflict, Russia has emerged as the world’s top consumer of Chinese automobiles.
Chinese auto imports increased by an astounding 543% to $4.6 billion in value in the first half of this year compared to the same time in 2022, according to a July report by the Russian news website RBC, which cited data from the Chinese customs department.
