President Donald Trump on Monday complained about Russia using currency manipulation to gain an unfair advantage over the U.S., but it’s like an elephant worrying about a gnat.
Russia and China are playing the Currency Devaluation game as the U.S. keeps raising interest rates. Not acceptable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2018
The country that used to be the center of the old Soviet Union simply doesn’t sell to, or buy enough stuff from, the United States to matter much. Put another way, the U.S. has nothing to fear from a Russian bear — at least on trade — despite mounting tensions between the two countries on a host of other issues.
In 2017, the U.S. exported just $6.99 billion in goods to Russia. Commercial airplanes and parts and heavy machinery accounted for about half of U.S. exports.
The U.S. bought about $17 billion in goods from Russia last year, mostly petroleum, chemicals and metals. Russia holds large reserves of critical raw materials such as precious metals that customers can’t easily get elsewhere.
That left Russia with about a $10 billion surplus with the U.S. in trades involving goods. A chronic U.S. surplus in services knocked the trade deficit with Russia down by a few billion dollars however.
Last year, Russia didn’t even crack the top 20 among the largest U.S. trading partners. The U.S. did more business with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Netherlands than it did with Russia.
A weaker currency could give Russia an advantage over the U.S. in trades with other countries, but Russia is not an industrial or high-tech juggernaut. It only competes with the U.S. in a few areas.
A large energy producer, Russia relies mainly on sales of oil and natural gas to boost exports. Its other big export is arms: missiles, fighter jets, rifles and such. Most of its arms are sold to countries the U.S. would not sell to, such as Syria, Iran or North Korea.