Russia has imposed a 55.65 % tax on China-made equipment pieces, a trade war volley that has raised difficult fresh questions about Moscow and Beijing’s” no limits” collaboration with US President-elect Donald Trump’s opening on the horizon.
Since fall 2024, the customs section of Russia’s eastern capital of , Vladivostok , has re-categorized equipment sliding road components as holding types, resulting in a major increase in taxes from zero to 55.65 %. The city then handles 90 % of China’s furniture pieces imports into Russia.  ,
The mercantilist walk was first reported on by Forbes on November 26, and Russian internet frequently cited it on November 27. Sergey Zmievsky, president of Almaz, a Russian furniture company, told Forbes that sliding parts can account for 30 % of the costs of making kitchen furniture.
The new tariff, according to the Association of Furniture and Woodworking Enterprises of Russia ( AFWPR ), will result in 15 % more in-cost for local furniture makers.  ,
AMDPR leader Alexander Shestakov said importing a completed piece of furniture, which is only subject to a 9-12 % price, is now more lucrative than producing it internally.  , He said the precise components are now not produced in Russia, which imports about US$ 1.3 billion of these furnishings parts annually, primarily from China.  ,
He added that furniture parts importers now must pay up to 2 to 2.5 million rubles ($ 19, 969 to$ 24, 962 ) worth of tariffs for each container, causing many to send them back to China rather than take delivery.  ,
Helpful taxes
In mid-November, AMDPR sent a letter to Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade proposing imposing a 60 % tariff on furniture imported from “unfriendly” countries and 10 % on furniture from “friendly” countries. According to the report, Middle Eastern and North African countries have a duty rate of 30 to 60 percent while Turkey’s common duty rate is 30 %.
Many Chinese critics contend that Vladivostok’s new tariff unfairly affects Chinese manufacturers, especially given that Russia merely imposes a 10 % tariff on comparable products imported from Europe. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and position press have not yet made any comments on the subject.  ,
” I’m angry! Chinese internet criticize Donald Trump for his regular potential tariffs on China, but they don’t mention Russian tariffs, according to a Guangdong-based columnist who uses the pseudonym” Du Juan” in an article.  ,
Foreign furniture manufacturers are facing rising challenges and business dangers with a negative outlook in this storm of unreasonable tariff increases in Russia, she said.
A Tianjin-based poet named Bei Shuo , said , Russia’s tax legislation against China is more violent than Trump’s.
Most Western companies left Russia after the Russian-Ukrainian War broke out, but Chinese providers quickly filled the gap to maintain a steady rise of Russia’s furnishings field, he said. Why, then, does Russia change its back on us?
He argued that the Russian state was undoubtedly looking to increase income to lessen the fiscal strains brought on by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
” In the commercial world, there are no permanent companions, merely permanent passions”, he said. Russia is aware that it doesn’t rely on China for the long run because it wants to grow its fabrication industry. It’s natural that Russia is leaning towards protectionism” . ,
He suggested that Moscow consider whether it’s worthwhile to sacrifice its positive business ties with China for a small amount of tax revenue.  ,
The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade made a plan to eventually increase its “recycling price” for car buyers by 70-85 % from current rates by 2030, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The payment, which is seen as another form of tax targeting Chinese automobiles, will increase by 10-20 % from the beginning of 2025.  ,
Wang Wu, a Shanghai-based journalist, said China has become the best auto supplier to Russia in recent years. He claimed that Moscow wants to push Chinese automakers to increase prices and establish factories in Russia by using the recycling price. He claimed that this may be successful in the near future but that it will also encourage prices.  ,
He said,” We shouldn’t anticipate that some ostensibly friendly nations will always respond with a smile.” ” We must always avoid of their probable backstabbing”.
Robust business
According to China Customs, Sino-Russia bilateral trade increased 26.3 % year-on-year to US$ 240 billion in 2023.  ,
China’s exports to Russia, including autos and manufacturing goods, rose 47 % to$ 111 billion over the period. China’s imports from Russia, including oil, gas and metals, surged 12.7 % to$ 129 billion. China’s trade surplus with Russia amounted to$ 18 billion.  ,  ,
In the first ten months of this year, China exported$ 94 billion of goods to Russia, up 80 % from the same period in 2021.
Considering China’s$ 367 billion trade deficit with the US in 2023, President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose taxes to push China to buy more American products.
” In the past few years, China and Russia seemed to have a great understanding of each other from power assistance to joint military routines”, Zhou Yang, a Henan-based journalist, said in an article published on December 5. However, this friendship has been tarnished by the most recent price news.
Zhou argued that Russia is in desperate need of China’s goods and investments, but that it does not want to promote its financial benefits or military technology with China.  ,
He claimed that the Chinese people would never forget that the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire had occupied 1.5 million square kilometers of Chinese territory in 1900 and that the Soviet Union had pushed for Mongolia’s independence from China in 1911.  ,
He claimed that although Russia and China can function together to defeat the US, they can also compete against one another in the future.  ,
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