Trump Warns Economic War Would Hit Russia Hard

President Donald Trump warned that an "economic war" would inflict significant damage on Russia, citing the country’s limited commercial ties with the United States. Speaking on Tuesday, Trump noted that bilateral trade amounted to about US$3.5 billion in 2024—less than the US$3.8 billion in goods the United States exchanges annually with Hungary, a nation whose population is roughly one-fifteenth the size of Russia’s 144 million people. Trump contrasted Russia’s modest trade with Washington against its far deeper economic partnership with China, which reached about US$245 billion last year. He argued that Moscow’s reliance on that relationship, combined with already scant flows with the United States, would leave the Kremlin especially vulnerable if hostilities over trade were to intensify.