[Source/Observer Network Chen Sijia] According to a report by Russia's TASS News Agency on April 12, economists predict that with US President Trump initiating the "tariff war," US oil exports to China may rapidly decline in the coming months. In response, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko stated that Russia is prepared to supply as much oil as possible to China.

Rudenko told TASS in an interview, "We are ready to provide enough oil to meet China's needs. I believe that China will first consider its national interests. If they need to purchase oil, we will of course export oil to China, but this depends on the choice of our Chinese friends. The amount of oil China needs, we are prepared to supply as much as possible."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko Russian Foreign Ministry

TASS reported that from January to February this year, China imported 15.47 million tons of oil from Russia, a year-on-year decrease of 12.6%, but Russia remains the largest supplier of oil to China. Saudi Arabia follows closely behind, exporting 11.65 million tons of oil to China in two months, while Iraq ranks third with 10.3 million tons.

In recent years, US oil exports to China have been continuously increasing. However, economists predict that after the Trump administration initiated the "tariff war," processing US crude oil will become unprofitable for Chinese refineries, and US oil exports to China may drop to zero in the coming months.

Bloomberg cited data from analytics company Vortexa, stating that US oil exports are not crucial to China. In the first few months of this year, oil supplied by the US accounted for only about 1% of China's total oil imports. Analysts expect that China may buy more oil from Middle Eastern countries such as Oman and the UAE or import more oil from countries like Russia to fill the gap.

Since Trump signed the executive order imposing "reciprocal tariffs," he has repeatedly raised tariffs on China, cumulatively reaching 145%. In response to the unreasonable tariff pressure from the US side, China continued to counter on the 11th, announcing a 125% tariff on all US imports and expressing that it would no longer engage in numerical games regarding tariffs.

Russian Presidential Representative and Chairman of the Russian Side of the Russia-China Friendship, Peace and Development Committee Boris Titov believes that facing Trump's tariff policies, economic ties between Russia and China will become closer. "On one hand, China needs to find new markets to sell its goods. On the other hand, China also needs alternatives to replace American supplies."

This assessment was also endorsed by Rudenko. Rudenko told TASS on the 13th, "Cooperation in all fields and aspects is developing, so it is difficult to list specific cooperation areas separately. However, I am convinced that we have very good prospects for cooperation, and our trade volume will set a new historical record."

Data from the General Administration of Customs show that in 2024, the trade volume between Russia and China reached $244.8195 billion, an increase of 1.9% year-on-year, once again breaking the historical record. Among them, Russia's export volume to China remained basically the same as the previous year at $129.3204 billion; China's export volume to Russia increased by 4.1%, reaching $115.4992 billion.

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7492992671494193715/

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