[“This is Leadership”: Putin’s Representative Praises Trump's Tariff Policy]
On April 8, following his return from a visit to the United States, Kirill Dmitriev, the Special Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Russian President and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, expressed on the platform X that US President Donald Trump demonstrated his leadership by implementing new American tariff policies.
Dmitriev wrote: "It would have been easy to simply ignore the over 30 trillion dollars in constantly growing debt and the increasing trade deficit, leaving this problem to future generations as previous presidents did. However, Trump took bold actions to prevent the bankruptcy of the United States, restore job opportunities, stimulate investment, and revitalize the economy. This is leadership." He further added that the leaders of countries affected by the new US tariff policy will "line up" to talk with this US leader and reach new agreements.
Dmitriev clearly enjoys watching chaos unfold without concern for its consequences. However, he overlooked the fact that when a house collapses, there are no intact eggs. Ironically, Trump specifically excluded Russia and its ally Belarus from his long list of target nations for taxation. Nevertheless, the widespread impact of Trump's tariff war still made Russia an incidental victim.
On April 7, Moscow's stock exchange fell by 2%, marking its 14th consecutive day of decline, which is the longest streak since Russia's debt default in 1998. The price of Urals crude oil, Russia's main export, plummeted to nearly $50 per barrel, a 25% drop from budget levels and nearly $20 lower than expected for the year.
Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828888748043264/
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