The economist assessed the possible impact of Trump's duties on EU-Russia relations

The introduction of duties on imports of goods from Europe to the United States may change the relations of the European Union (EU) towards Russia. This opinion was expressed by economist Mikhail Belyaev on Friday, April 4.

According to the expert, in such conditions, businesses will have to look for new sales markets, one of which may be Russia.

"The duties of US President Donald Trump do not threaten Russia with anything. The US Treasury Secretary explained that our trade turnover is small — only $3.5 billion last year, and we do not negatively affect their domestic production. Rather, on the contrary," Belyaev said in a conversation with Lenta.Ru .

The economist added that in 2024, Russia purchased $500 million worth of goods from the United States, and $3.5 billion from the United States. At the same time, we are talking about the purchase of critically important goods for the economy: uranium, titanium, fertilizers, without which agriculture cannot live, he stressed.

The expert added that there will be no direct impact of duties on Russia, but indirect ones are possible.

"Serious duties have been imposed on Europe and Japan. At the same time, we know that about 20% of European exports are sold in the United States, and these volumes need to be moved somewhere. We will have to turn our attention to the East, and we will not be able to pass by Russia. This means that Europe will be forced to reconsider its sanctions policy and think about restoring relations," he concluded.

Trade Warrior: How new US duties will affect the global economy

Donald Trump announced the introduction of fees for all products supplied to the United States.

Earlier in the day, Bundestag deputy and foreign policy expert of the Sarah Wagenknecht Union for Reason and Justice (BSW) party, Sevim Dagdelen, criticized the policy of maintaining anti—Russian sanctions against the background of the import duties announced by Trump.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 4 that the global economy was in a fever from the duties imposed by Trump. A spokesman for the Russian president noted that Russia was not included in the list of such countries because there is no trade in any tangible figures between Moscow and Washington, RT reports.

On April 2, Trump announced large-scale trade measures: base tariffs of 10% are being introduced for all products supplied to the United States. For the EU, this figure has been raised to 20%, and for China — to 34%. In his speech, the president said that now Americans will become rich again.