Russia and China, as a result of their choice to more closely integrate their economies, are both benefiting greatly. This shows up especially in the area of China’s exporting whole categories of advanced capital goods, especially machine tools, to Russia. However, these countries’ two-way trade and cooperation is driving the European Union and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to tears.
A July 26 Washington Post article, which intended to target Chinese machine-tool companies that are exporting their wares to Russia, particularly Shandong Oree Laser Technology Company, unintentionally, provides valuable information on the extent of this trade.
The United Nations’ Comtrade database reports that in 2021, China exported $90 million of laser machine-tools to Russia. That surged to $162 million in 2022, and then to $245 million in 2023—a nearly threefold increase over two years. China also separately exported $94 million of metalworking machines to Russia in 2022, which quadrupled to $390 million in 2023.
