US and China's trade war may cut prices for Russian resources

MOSCOW, May 15. / TASS /: The trade war between the United States and China can reduce the prices of Russian resources, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin told reporters on Wednesday.

"It is clear that this whole story will have a negative impact on the demand for Russian products. This also applies to commodities, so this scenario, of course, will mean lower prices for key resources: oil, metals, coal - what is exported from Russia," said he.

In addition, there will be a deterrent effect on non-commodity exports from the Russian Federation due to weakened global demand.

US-China trade war 

The trade dispute between the US and China is not going to affect the Russian economy seriously as it is one of most protected from such external influence now, Oreshkin told reporters.

"Of course, there will be some influence as a global economic situation like that will affect all financial markets, and the Russian financial market is part of the global market, which is why if there are negative trends on global financial markets they will affect the Russian market as well. However, the situation is not going to be super unusual and strong for Russia. Currently Russia is largely one of the most protected economies from such external influence," he explained.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed irritation at an enormous deficit of trade with the People’s Republic of China. The US increased tariffs from 10% to 25% on approximately $200 bln worth of Chinese imports starting May 10. Trump has also requested introducing tariffs on another $300 bln worth of Chinese goods.

In response, the Chinese authorities announced responsive tariffs to be imposed starting June 1, 2019 on over 5,000 items from the US totally worth $60 bln.