Political relations between the Russian Federation and the United States in The last 10 years have tended towards a slow but inexorable increase in 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 opposing 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 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 proven by a detailed analysis of foreign trade activities, which we will deal with in the following sections.
Analysis of economic relations — trade between the USA 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 help but decline, but contrary to pessimistic forecasts, this decline did not reach a catastrophic scale. The spread of COVID-19 has affected certain areas, but in some areas there has even been an increase compared to previous years.
Let's get straight to the numbers. An analysis of trade turnover between the United States and the Russian Federation in 2019 amounted to $26.17 billion with a total cargo weight of 25.77 million tons. The minimum monthly indicator traditionally occurred in January, the maximum in 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 petroleum products, mineral waxes (cost approx. 26%, weight – 66%);
- products of the military-industrial complex, natural gas and the aviation industry — goods from the SSSS “secret code” category related to the economic security of the country (17% by value, 0.05% by weight);
- nuclear reactors, boilers, equipment (8.25% — cost, 0.26% — weight).
Next on the list are means of land transport, natural pearls, tools and optical devices. Turnover is realized through three main regions — Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Moscow region.
According to FCS statistics Imports from the United States to Russia amounted to $13 billion in value terms. In first place are goods from the secret code category, followed by nuclear boilers, equipment, and ground transport.
Exports from Russia to the United States amounted to $13 billion — as you can see, the financial flows of imports and exports are equal. In first place in terms of volume and cost are mineral fuels, oil and petroleum products, followed by natural or artificially grown pearls, precious metals, and in third place are ferrous metals.
The United States is one of the top ten leading exporter-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 there were 8% fewer exporters. The total number of companies importing from the USA is 5751, and exporters are 1678.
Comparison of indicators for 2020 and 2019
In 2020, trade turnover for January-September decreased compared to the same period in 2019 for objective reasons. A year ago during this period, volumes in monetary terms amounted to 19.38 billion dollars, in 20 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 remained almost unchanged — with the exception of the movement of the category “Ground Transport” to 5th place (versus 4th position in 2019). In the regional structure of exports to the United States, the main exporters were and remain Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Sverdlovsk region.
As we can see, the political situation has almost no effect on economic performance. The epidemiological situation has a more serious impact than politics. With the increasingly deteriorating foreign policy relations of both countries, trade is carried out at almost 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 mineral reserves, 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.
