Besides, oil prices collapsed and the capitalization of the American market itself fell by trillions of dollars. The Moscow Exchange index lost 5% at the opening on Monday.
Leonid Kholod, Doctor of Economics, former deputy head of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the effect of the new U.S. trade policy will affect almost all countries, regardless of whether they trade with America or not. The expert told how it could affect Russia.
"Despite the fact that the duties against Russia have not been introduced, it will in any case affect the reduction of supplies of Russian raw materials. Gas is affected to a lesser extent, but, for example, gas that is needed for the chemical industry will also fall under the crush. And what is a drop in demand and extra production on the market? It is a drop in prices, which is what we are seeing - oil and other investment commodity prices are falling. That is, all countries will suffer from U.S. duties," the specialist said in an interview with the Public News Service.
Kholod said that the decline in demand and world prices for raw materials, on the one hand, will affect the fact that domestic prices in Russia will not follow the external prices. But, on the other hand, having lost income in international trade, local exporters may try to make up for losses on the domestic market. The economist noted that, for example, lower profits from oil exports may affect gasoline prices.
But it will still not be possible to sell all the products within the country that are intended for export, as they are initially produced much more than for the domestic market.
Kholod believes that Russia will suffer more from under-supply in relation to the previous exports due to a decrease in demand.
Earlier, the expert told whether gasoline prices will fall due to the fall in oil prices.