Secondary Source – Russia and China Trade
For everything in the world, there seems to be an alternative to it. Fossil fuels have renewable energy, Twitter has Threads, and now Russia has China. For the entirety of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia has relied on exporting its vast petroleum and natural gas reserves to countries outside of the Western world at a very solid price given that OPEC was making production cuts occur. However, the US and Europe have skillfully managed to reduce oil revenues that have funded Russian war efforts through heavy sanctions and a price cap, while also working to provide alternative trading partners so that energy crises do not occur.
Russia has also found their alternative partner, China. The Chinese economy has been struggling massively as trade with the West has been falling significantly, partly because of countries like the US aiming to reduce their reliance on China in what is a hot, geopolitical mess right now. Therefore, trade with Russia has increased massively, with total trade increasing by 36 percent from a year before to $134 billion, and China now provides Russia with nearly half of their imports. Automobiles have played a major role, with China exporting many cars to Russia due to a lack of outside demand. Not only is this helping Russia economically, helping fund the war effort, but China may be providing possible war advantages to Russia. Technologies such as microchips, trench-digging excavators, and jet-fighting parts have been moved from Chinese companies to Russia, which aren’t technically weapons but can be used militarily. These excavators, for example, have allowed Russia to increase their defenses for Ukrainian counterattacks. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concern over the trade, but it seems like a messy place to enter given how high tensions are between the US and China.
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I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
