US President Donald Trump is threatening a further 25% tariff on India in addition to increased tariffs on other countries that buy Russian oil, in an try to strain Moscow to finish the war in Ukraine. But the United States and Europe themselves are still doing billions of {dollars} in commerce with Russia – though that’s a fraction of the commerce that passed off earlier than the war.
India has argued that it’s being unfairly focused with the tariff improve, calling it “unjustified” on condition that different nations additionally do business with Moscow.
Trade between Russia and the US has fallen by about 90% for the reason that Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however final yr, the US still imported $3 billion value of items from Russia, in keeping with the latest data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Census Bureau.
Meanwhile, the European Union – which has been the Americans’ accomplice in sanctions towards Russia – imported $41.9 billion (36 billion euros) of items from Russia in 2024, knowledge from the bloc’s statistics company reveals.
“It’s significant, but I think the more significant thing is how quickly the EU adjusted to reduce their dependency on Russia,” mentioned Kimberly Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative on the Atlantic Council, a DC-based suppose tank. “They’re making huge strides to further reduce how much they’re getting from (Russia).”
EU imports from Russia dropped by 86% between the primary quarters of 2022 and 2025, in keeping with Eurostat knowledge.
“I do think that there is a lot of opportunity for the US and even the EU to increase our trade with countries like Canada and get the products that we need from them,” Donovan added. “That’s where the trade wars and the negotiations over tariffs are really throwing things for a loop and are reducing our ability to be strategic in how we’re approaching the Russia problem.”
These are the areas the place financial ties with Russia stay the strongest, for the US and Europe respectively.
• Fertilizer: The US imported $927 million value of fertilizer within the first half of this yr, US Census Bureau knowledge reveals. Last yr, fertilizer imports from Russia totaled greater than $1 billion. The US significantly depends on Russia for imports of three varieties of chemical fertilizers: urea, urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) and potassium chloride muriate of potash, additionally known as potash.
“Unless the US sanctions Russian fertilizer imports, as it does with Belarusian potash, this (level of trade) is likely to continue,” mentioned Allan Pickett, head of fertilizer evaluation at S&P Global Commodity Insights. “Russia remains one of the most important global fertilizer suppliers and the influence of it has not diminished since 2022.”
“Urea and potash could be readily sourced from elsewhere, although with potash it would further increase US dependence on Canada, which currently has an interesting trade dynamic,” Pickett added.
The Trump administration not too long ago hiked tariffs on Canada to a minimal of 35% –until items are compliant with the phrases of the US-Mexico-Canada free commerce settlement – escalating ongoing trade tensions with its northern neighbor.
• Palladium: Although palladium imports from Russia have diminished considerably since 2021, knowledge reveals that the US still imported $878 million value of the metallic in 2024 and $594 million value in 2025, by way of June. The silvery metallic is utilized in varied digital and industrial merchandise and it’s a key element within the catalytic converters of vehicles.
• Uranium and plutonium: The US has imported $755 million value of uranium and plutonium from Russia to this point this yr, in keeping with Census knowledge by way of June. It imported $624 million value of these commodities from Russia in 2024.
• Oil: Russia was the most important provider of petroleum to the European Union previous to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The EU has since imposed a ban on maritime Russian oil imports, in addition to refined oil merchandise, like diesel. As a end result, oil imports to Europe fell to $1.72 billion (1.48 billion euros) for the primary quarter of 2025, down from $16.4 billion (14.06 billion euros) in the identical quarter of 2021, in keeping with the newest knowledge from Eurostat.
The prime European importers of Russian fossil fuels in July 2025 have been Hungary, France, Slovakia, Belgium and Spain, in keeping with an evaluation by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a world analysis group. Hungary and Slovakia accounted for the overwhelming majority of crude oil imports, in keeping with the analysis, whereas the others import largely liquefied pure gasoline.
• Natural gasoline: The worth of pure gasoline imports from Russia really elevated within the final 4 years consequently of value will increase, rising to $5.23 billion (4.49 billion euros) within the first quarter of 2025, Eurostat data shows. However, the EU has barely diminished Russia’s market share of liquefied pure gasoline imports since 2021 – from 22% right down to 19% in 2025 – whereas additionally tremendously rising the US market share.
• Iron and metal: Russia’s share of iron and metal imports within the EU has dropped sharply. Iron and metal imports amounted to $850 million (730 million euros) within the first quarter of 2025 – about half of what they have been in the identical quarter in 2021, in keeping with Eurostat.
• Fertilizer: Sanctions and import duties haven’t hit the fertilizer business, and consequently, European imports of Russian fertilizer have modified little or no since 2021. In the primary quarter of 2025, EU international locations imported $640 million (550 million euros) of Russian fertilizer, knowledge reveals.
• Nickel: The EU has diversified imports to rely extra on nickel from the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada. Still, the bloc imported $300 million (260 million euros) value of nickel from Russia within the first quarter of 2025. Nickel is primarily used to make stainless-steel and different alloy steels, in addition to batteries.
Beyond imports and exports of commodities, many Western corporations stay entrenched in Russia.
Some notable American-based holdouts proceed to function in Russia, together with prime 100 corporations, in keeping with lists compiled by the Yale School of Management and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute.
Dozens of European companies, together with consumer-facing manufacturers, retailers and software program corporations, have additionally remained in Russia.
The quantity of tax income that Western corporations generate for the Kremlin is comparatively small, however analysts say the businesses that stay have allowed facets of regular life to proceed for the Russian inhabitants.
Corporate exits serve to carry the war nearer to the Russian individuals and confront their “complacency,” in addition to make it harder for Putin to color an image of a well-functioning economic system, mentioned Yale School of Management’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, whose giant staff of researchers retains monitor of which corporations have left.
“It’s an imploding market – it was never an economic superpower to start with – which is just a lot of smoke and mirrors, a lot of bravado on the part of Putin to try to create an aura of something bigger,” Sonnenfeld informed NCS.
India’s and China’s vitality imports
In distinction to the discount in commerce with Moscow seen within the United States and EU, India imported $67 billion value of items from Russia in 2024, in keeping with data aggregated by the United Nations. Roughly $53 billion value of that was petroleum oils and crude oil.
Before the full-scale war, in 2021, India imported $8.7 billion value of items from Russia.
India’s imports of Russian oil and gasoline have skyrocketed since earlier than the war started. Russian oil now makes up 36% of the Indian market, in keeping with Vortexa, an vitality knowledge agency, which means it imports extra crude oil from Russia than from anyplace else.
China has additionally ramped up purchases of Russian crude oil following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its value fell after Western international locations sharply scaled again their imports of Russian gasoline. Russia now accounts for 13.5% of China’s crude imports, in keeping with Vortexa.
China imported roughly $130 billion in Russian items in 2024, together with $62.6 billion of petroleum oils and crude, the UN-aggregated knowledge reveals.