WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Russian and US companies focused more on direct trade in 2016 rather than reaching trade deals through intermediaries, Russia's Trade Representative to the United States Alexander Stadnik told Sputnik on Friday.
"We have always had a difference in the US and Russian trade statistics because we employ different statistical methods," Stadnik said. "At present, we still use the same methods, but we have less than a $0.5 billion difference."
Stadnik also noted that at present, trade between the United States and Russia is at the level of year 2010.
"In 2010, the US data was $8 billion higher. The American side calculated all imports, including through the third countries, while we only measured direct trade," Stadnik noted.
In 2016, the volume of Russian exports was $9.4 billion. At the same time, Russian export to the United States grew from 18.3 million tons in 2015 to more than 20.5 million tons in 2016.
