Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's trade with Russia in March increased nearly 13% from the prior year, following a nearly 26% increase in February, and far outpaced China's trade with the rest of the world. Given the sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration on numerous Russian goods, this increase begs the question: how much of these banned Russian goods are finding their way into the US market via China?
A recent AP report suggested that Russian seafood is likely making its way to US consumers through China, despite trade restrictions. Not only is China's increasing trade with Russia providing a much-needed economic lifeline to a regime suffering from increasing constriction of its ability to access capital, but it is also likely that a number of restricted Russian goods are finding their way into the global markets through this trade.
The trade restrictions against Russia, however, are resonating around the global markets and imposing both economic and political burdens on the imposing countries. In fact, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week slashed its global economic growth forecast by nearly a full percentage point. At the same time, European countries such as Germany struggle to wean themselves from dependency on Russian's vast energy resources - a change that simply cannot happen overnight.
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