Bilateral trade between Washington and Moscow “started to grow” after US President Donald Trump took office in January and it “holds tremendous potential”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday after meeting Trump in Alaska. At the joint media briefing, Trump added he looked “forward to dealing” with Russian business representatives present at the summit on the war in Ukraine.
These remarks on expanding US-Russia economic ties come after the Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent “penalty” tariff on India for importing Russian crude.
“By the way, under the new US administration, our bilateral trade has been on the rise. So far, it is a symbolic figure but still, the trade is 20 per cent higher. What I am saying is that we have many interesting areas for cooperation,” Putin said.
Data from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) shows bilateral goods trade between the two countries surged by 38 per cent year-on-year to $2.5 billion between February and June 2025, after Trump took office on January 20.
“It is obvious that the Russian-US business and investment partnership holds tremendous potential. Russia and the United States have much to offer each other in trade, energy, digital and high technologies, and space development,” Putin said.
In his statement, Trump said, “We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We have become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time. We look forward to that, we look forward to dealing, we are going to try to get this over with.”
Between February and June 2025, US imports from Russia grew by 40 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to $2.3 billion and exports to Russia grew 21 per cent to $249 billion. The trade deficit for the US jumped 43 per cent y-o-y to over $2 billion, according to USITC data.
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Palladium, uranium and fertilisers made up the bulk of US imports from Russia, and also drove the surge in imports after the Trump administration came in. On the export side, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment led American shipments to Russia.
In 2024, two years after the Ukraine war began, US merchandise imports from Russia fell to $3 billion in customs value — 90 per cent lower than in 2021, the year before the conflict.
In 2021, the US imported goods worth around $30 billion from Russia. This halved to $14 billion in 2022, following the war in Ukraine that began in February that year. Imports then fell to $4.6 billion in 2023, before settling at $3 billion in 2024.
US-Russia trade not a ‘vital national compulsion’
US-Russia trade has come under the spotlight after President Trump imposed a 25 per cent penalty tariff on India for importing Russian oil on August 6. India criticised the move as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Earlier, the White House had also imposed a 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on Indian goods in July.
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In the days leading up to August 6, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India began importing oil from Russia “because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict”. “The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” it said.
The MEA had asserted that India’s Russian oil imports are a “necessity compelled by global market situation”. “However, it is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” its statement said.
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