There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. So we began to talk about Western economic sanctions, when the benefits of import substitution could no longer be denied. Now there is one more confirmation of the success of the policy of independence - the nervous, irritated reaction of the United States, which seem to have caught on and intend to restrain the economic development of Russia by setting the WTO on us. For this strategic goal, a special report was even drawn up for the congress. Russia was reproached for deviating from the principles of open trade and fair competition, creating preferences for its goods and services, restrictions in the agricultural sector, import substitution in IT and expanding state control over the economy.
Truly, American cynicism is limitless. To resist the endless chain of their lies and manipulations, you need to have an iron endurance. And logic. US Trade Representative Catherine Tai apparently forgot that the Russian import substitution program was a response to unilateral sanctions - American and European, reminded the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. Moreover, Brussels was then not eager to get involved in a fight and was forced to sacrifice its own interests under pressure from Washington. If anyone violated the WTO rules by their actions, it was just the United States and Europe, our diplomat delivered a counterstrike. And there is no need to shift from a sore head to a healthy one.
In general, the loudest shouts "Stop the thief!" often the one who stole it himself. This analogy fully characterizes recent Russian-American relations. Russia is being stuck in its wheels in various spheres, based on the strategic goal of containing our country, and then Moscow is accused of exactly this. It looks like a cover operation, in the language of the secret services. It is important not only to harm the enemy (smiling in his face and assuring him of mutually beneficial cooperation), but also to remove suspicions of unseemly behavior and violation of contracts. And for this you need to accuse - make excuses! Alas, so far this American (and generally Western) method is working quite effectively.
There are many examples of this. As Reuters found out, the White House is considering a ban on the export to Russia of the main components of aircraft and cars, smartphones, as well as materials from many other sectors of the economy. Perhaps the Americans are bluffing, or maybe they just forgot a little, but the ban on the export of composite materials for aircraft, in particular for the wing of our civilian medium-haul liner MS-21, was introduced by them back in 2018. After all, Boeing's competitors are not needed. Because of this, the project stalled, Rostec had to urgently create an analogue. Engineers, as is often the case in Russia, brilliantly coped with the state task, and the MC-21 continued its flight. But the situation is indicative.
Perhaps this good fortune makes the Americans angry.
What if these Russians continue to be just as successful?
What else does Washington want to deprive the Russians of?
Smartphones?
In fact, after Motorola left for China and the inglorious end of the Canadian (almost American) BlackBerry, the only American smartphone on the Russian market was the iPhone.
Of course, this is a successful development, who can argue, but what if the Russian engineers (and it always happens when we are pinned down) master this task too?
The Chinese Huawei was able not only to catch up with Western achievements in microelectronics, but also to surpass them.
I had to deal with her in lawlessness, in fact, taking the findirector hostage - the daughter of the founder of the company.
By the way, the first Russian smartphones have already entered the series. Moreover, from different manufacturers. Yes, they are not as sleek as iPhones, meeting the aspirations not so much of teenagers with their cravings for TikTok and Instagram, as of the interests of serious users who value safety. The gadget will protect its owner from all known types of cyberattacks. How? The partner of the creator is the famous Kaspersky Lab, which has developed a special operating system. The United States knows very well who Kaspersky is. No wonder they voluntarily and indefinitely banned their civil servants from using the antivirus products of the Russian company, including the most that neither is protectionism. WTO, ay!
Europe is also nervous. Their farmers, who are accustomed to making money on Russia, are discouraged by the success of our import substitution in agriculture. Russian parmesan - from these words, I am sure, many Italian cheese-makers cannot sleep well. Until recently, Russia, which did not really know how to feed itself, was closing the gaps in the product line before our very eyes, increasing the gross yield, improving the quality, and now, having saturated itself, is confidently gaining positions in the world market. Before our very eyes, it becomes the world's largest exporter of grain, for example. To such an extent that the income from agricultural exports now exceeds the income from the export of weapons. And this is during a period of active growth in global food prices! It was not for nothing that the Europeans opened a front against Russia in the WTO in the summer, overtaking the United States.
And here it is appropriate to recall the endless, like a Mexican series, epic with "Nord Stream - 2". Perhaps no one will argue that when the new German Foreign Minister (during the still ongoing certification procedure for the gas pipeline) calls it a geopolitical project, it has nothing to do with fair competition, with trade - even according to WTO rules, even in accordance with common sense. Or the story of the notorious energy transition, in which Europe imposes a carbon tax on other countries, placing discriminatory restrictions on the price of their exports. If humanity wants green energy - so be it. But there is no need to cover up your greed and desire to oust Russia from its rightful place under the sun with high environmental standards.
So Dmitry Peskov was right when he supported the position of Russian stakeholders, departments and companies, who gave a solidarity response to the US attempt to throw us an unjust reproach based on the WTO. “Russia does not violate anything in this area,” the press secretary of the Russian president stated succinctly. Vladimir Putin spoke about the success of the import substitution program literally in early December, speaking to young scientists. The format of the meeting clearly emphasizes that we are talking about the future of the country. The president had previously stated the benefits of sanctions for the development of Russia's economic sovereignty, noting that the line of confrontation was chosen by the United States because of the transformation of the world into its multipolar version.
The danger of attempts by Washington and Brussels to use WTO mechanisms against Russia is their systemic and, in fact, political nature.
We are not talking about a dispute between companies or even industries.
States come to the fore.
And their goals are state.
Who knows, perhaps this circumstance will force Moscow to take a closer look at our country's membership in the WTO.
For example, to audit the benefits and losses that it brought.
Indeed, in the coming year, it will be ten years since we entered this global club.
It's time to take stock of the interim results.
It is possible that the voices of those who pointed out the danger of Russia's dependence on the trade system already established in the world will begin to sound more and more convincing.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.