Last week, US trade authorities published a preliminary list of EU products which could face additional duties in retaliation to EU subsidies to Airbus. The EU, in turn, stated on Tuesday that it will release on Wednesday a list of products that might face new duties over US state subsidies to aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has sought to recruit some of the top oil industry guns to serve as Washington’s foreign policy tools to crack down on “bad actors” like Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

Trade turnover between Russia and China soared by nearly 30 percent in 2018, reaching a record number of $107.06 billion, according to the latest report released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC). The agency noted that last year Russian imports of Chinese goods increased by 12 percent to $47.98 billion.