After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, the United States imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Russia.
However, according to a report by the Associated Press on the 25th, more than 3,600 shipments of Russian goods such as wood, metal, and rubber have arrived in the United States since the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Russia for about six months, with an average monthly import value of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars.
The United States claims to use sanctions to cause a "devastating blow" to the Russian economy, but out of its own interests, it still maintains imports from Russia in many fields, involving hundreds of product categories.
According to statistics, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the US imports of Russian metals, especially aluminum products, have almost never been interrupted.
Since February, the United States has imported more than 900 ships from Russia, totaling more than 264 million tons of metal products. The buyers include corporate giants such as Boeing, which hold tens of billions of purchase orders from the US government.
At the same time, the United States announced in March that it would completely stop imports of Russian oil, natural gas and coal, but set up a "buffer period" to allow American companies to fulfill existing orders.
In the same week that the United States announced the energy embargo, about 1 million barrels of Russian crude oil arrived in the United States, and the buyer was Monroe Energy, a refiner of Delta Air Lines; and 75,000 barrels of Russian tar were shipped to Exxon Mobil and other energy companies' refineries.
Since then, tankers from Russian ports have also continued to deliver to U.S. refineries.
In addition, the United States still encourages the import of Russian products in some areas, and most agricultural trade between the United States and Russia is still smooth. In the past six months, more than 100 ships of Russian fertilizers have arrived in the United States.
Associated Press: Stopping imports of Russian products will hurt the U.S. even more
In this regard, O'Brien, director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Sanctions Coordination, said that the United States must not only ensure the maximum effect of sanctions, but also allow trade to operate.
American economists believe that the current high inflation in the United States, stopping the import of Russian goods will greatly push up the domestic market price of the United States.
The Associated Press pointed out that the U.S. move is to safeguard its own interests. If the import of Russian products is prohibited, the related industries in the United States will suffer more than the Russian side.