TRADE BETWEEN LATVIA AND RUSSIA AFTER THE MUTUAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS. QUICK CHANGES TO STOP LOSSES

Abstract

After the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, the European Union imposed economic sanctions on it. In turn, Russia took retaliatory measures, materialized in the ban on imports of agri-food products from the EU-28 member countries. This article aims to highlight the effects of these measures on a small Baltic country, Latvia, that is a member of the European Union since 2004 and is considered to be the most "Russophone" in terms of ethnic composition and economic, yet not political, dependence on Russia. Given that growth of Latvia is based on exports, and the Russian Federation is its main non-EU trading partner, our research focuses on: a) analyzing the effects of the Russian embargo on bilateral trade, and b) pointing out Latvia's rapid strategic reorientation to counteract the negative effects.

Keywords

• trade
• protectionism
• Latvia
• European Union
• Russian Federation