Russia stays clear of US-China trade war… but roots for ‘strategic partner’ – Putin

While the raging trade dispute between the world’s largest economies is none of Moscow’s business, it is hard to remain impartial when it comes to the interests of strategic partners, Putin said ahead of the SCO summit.

“There is a dispute between the world’s largest economies. And there are a lot of specific issues related to their bilateral ties… So of course, common sense suggests we have no reason to interfere in this negotiation process,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with MIR TV ahead of his visit to Kyrgyzstan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

However, one crucial aspect makes it impossible for Moscow to remain impartial. “First of all, we have unprecedented, historically good relations with China. We are strategic partners in every sense of the word… Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about our relations with the US, they are degrading from bad to worse.”

So of course, under these circumstances, our sympathy is with our strategic partners, obviously.

Accusing Beijing of taking advantage of the US economy, US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese goods, sparking a trade war. China retaliated in kind, but has repeatedly stressed that it prefers a mutually beneficial trade agreement over economic warfare. However, Beijing has warned that it will “respond resolutely and fight until the end” if Washington escalates “trade frictions.”

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