Ukraine and European leaders agreed on Saturday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from 12 May with the backing of US president Donald Trump, threatening president Vladimir Putin with new “massive” sanctions if he failed to comply.
The announcement was made by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine after a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.
The amount of trade is not the only thing that matters. Russia exports food, fertiliser and oil. Trade with Europe / US is mostly in luxuries. If forced to choose between them, China will likely choose the first.
(More likely they won’t be forced to choose because they control multiple key supply chains, and can sink the economy of any country except maybe the USA.)
It’s even more stark for my country. No trade with the west means we lose a lot of export revenue, and our growth slows. No trade with Russia means famine and fuel shortages. It’s not even a choice.