Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021

Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021

Political relations between the Russian Federation and the United States in The last 10 years have tended towards a slow but inexorable escalation of contradictions. Outwardly, representatives of the leadership apparatus of both countries maintain the appearance of mutual tolerance and respect, but in fact the political elites of both countries have opposite points of view on many issues.

At the same time, Moscow and Washington have a number of common topics affecting both the interests of the two states, and the interests of the world community. These issues relate to arms control, the fight against international terrorism, and information security.

Despite all the difficulties listed above, the economy remains one of the areas in which both countries rely on a purely pragmatic approach. Business representatives in both countries are interested in continuing and increasing the mutually beneficial partnership. Even the unrelenting anti-Russian sentiment in the ranks of the American economic elite and various restrictions do not reduce the progressive dynamics in trade and economic relations in certain areas. This is proved by the detailed analysis of foreign economic activity, which we will deal with in the following sections.

Analysis of economic relations — trade between the United States and Russia

Global trends towards a decline in production and demand associated with the global pandemic inevitably affected the economic status of both countries. Trade volumes could not fail to decline, but contrary to pessimistic forecasts, this decline did not reach catastrophic proportions. The spread of COVID-19 has affected certain positions, but in some areas there has even been an increase compared to previous years.

Let's go straight to the numbers. An analysis of the US-Russian trade turnover in 2019 amounted to $26.17 billion with a total cargo weight of 25.77 million tons. The minimum monthly indicator traditionally fell on January, the maximum — on March. Compared to 2018, the volume increased by 4.9%.

The main goods that passed through the customs of both countries as part of official trade:

  • mineral fuels, oil and oil products, mineral waxes (the value is about 26%, weight — 66%);
  • products of the military-industrial complex, natural gas and aviation industry — goods from the «secret code» category of the SSSS related to the economic security of the country (17% by value, 0.05% by mass);
  • nuclear reactors, boilers, equipment (8.25% — cost, 0.26% — weight).

Next on the list are ground transportation means, natural pearls, instruments and optical devices. The turnover is realized through three main regions — Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region. -k-2021-godu-35253f5.jpg» />Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021

According to FCS statistics US imports to Russia amounted to $13 billion in value terms. In the first place are goods from the secret code category, followed by nuclear boilers, equipment, ground transport.

Exports from Russia to the United States amounted to 13 billion dollars — as you can see, the financial flows of imports and exports are equal. Mineral fuels, oil and oil products are in first place in terms of volume and value, followed by natural or artificially grown pearls, precious metals, and ferrous metals are in third place.

Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021

The United States is among the top ten exporters-importers in Russia and ranks 7th in this list, behind China, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and ahead of Uzbekistan. The number of counterparties trading with America reaches 7,000 firms. At the same time, in 2019 the list of companies increased slightly — by 1.5% compared to 2018. There were more importers, but less exporters by 8%. The total number of US import firms is 5,751 and there are 1,678 exporters.

Comparison of 2020 and 2019 figures

Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021Relations between Russia and the United States — trade trends for 2021

In 2020, the trade turnover for January-September decreased compared to the same period in 2019 for objective reasons. A year ago, during this period, the volumes in monetary terms amounted to 19.38 billion dollars, in 2020 the figures amounted to 17.58 billion. In July 2020, export-import indicators were minimal — they amounted to 1.6 billion dollars against 2.16 in the same month of 2019. At the same time, the structure of foreign economic activity has not changed much — with the exception of moving the category «Land transport means» to the 5th place (against the 4th position in 2019). In the regional structure of exports to the United States, Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Sverdlovsk region have been and remain the main exporters.

As you can see, the political situation has almost no effect on economic performance. A more serious impact than politics is the epidemiological situation. With the foreign relations of both countries increasingly deteriorating, trade is almost at the same pace (taking into account the impact of the pandemic). Investment cooperation is also developing. American investments are concentrated mainly in manufacturing, real estate transactions, and wholesale trade. Of particular interest to the United States are regions with large reserves of minerals, as well as centers of the chemical and metallurgical industries. Therefore, for the coming 2021, the prerequisites remain for maintaining impressive volumes of mutual trade.

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