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Factbox-US and Europe do billions in trade with Russia despite sanctions
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 15, 2025
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(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States was prepared to impose fresh energy sanctions on Russia, but only if all NATO nations ceased purchasing Russian oil and implemented similar measures.
More than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and European Union still import billions of euros worth of Russian energy and commodities, ranging from liquefied natural gas to enriched uranium.
Here are the main commercial ties that the EU and the U.S. maintain with Russia, and their evolution over the last four years:
EU TRADE WITH RUSSIA
The EU has imposed various import and export restrictions on several products, resulting in a 61% decline in exports to Russia and an 89% drop in imports from Russia between the first quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2025, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
In the second quarter of 2025, EU exports to Russia increased, while imports decreased, turning a trade deficit to a surplus of 0.8 billion euros.
The EU, however, continues to purchase oil, nickel, natural gas, fertilizer, iron and steel from Russia.
OIL
Four years ago, Russia was the largest supplier of petroleum products to the EU, but the EU ban on maritime imports of Russian crude oil reduced its share to 2.01% in 2025 so far from 28.74% in 2021.
The share of petroleum oil imports from Russia fell from 29% in the first quarter of 2021 to just 2% in the second quarter of 2025.
NATURAL GAS
Russia's share in EU imports of natural gas dropped to 12% in the second quarter of 2025 from 48% in the first quarter of 2021.
In this period the share for Norway (+10%) increased by the sharpest amount, but Algeria (+2%) became the EU's largest partner, accounting for 27% of the bloc's natural gas imports.
Russia still supplies some EU countries such as Hungary and Bulgaria via the TurkStream undersea gas pipeline from Turkey.
LNG
The value of EU imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia increased considerably between the first quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2022 as prices increased sharply.
However, Russia's share in EU imports of LNG had decreased to 14% in the second quarter of 2025 from 22% in the first quarter of 2021.
The United States was the biggest supplier of the frozen gas to Europe in the second quarter of this year, with its share reaching 54%.
IRON AND STEEL
Russia's share in non-EU iron and steel imports slumped to 6% in the second quarter of 2025 from 18% four years ago.
FERTILIZERS
Russia remained, as of the second quarter of 2025, the largest exporter of fertilizers into the 27-nation EU, and its share of that market had increased to 34% from 28% over the last four years.
The European Parliament voted in May to impose prohibitive tariffs on Russian fertilizer imports, but they will only be introduced in phases and it is too early to assess their likely impact on the market.
U.S. IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA
U.S. imports from Russia fell to $2.50 billion in the first half of 2025 from $14.14 billion four years earlier, according to U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Since January 2022, the United States has imported $24.51 billion of Russian goods.
FERTILIZERS
Last year, the U.S. imported around $1.27 billion of Russian fertilizers, up slightly from $1.14 billion in 2021.
URANIUM, PLUTONIUM
The U.S. imported enriched uranium and plutonium from Russia worth around $624 million in 2024, down from $646 million in 2021.
PALLADIUM
Russia exported palladium to the United States for around $878 million in 2024, down from $1.59 billion in 2021.
(Reporting by Mireia Merino, Tristan Veyet and Reuters Moscow bureau; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones)