During the Cold War, U.S.-Soviet economic ties were very limited. They were constrained by
national security and foreign policy restrictions, including the Jackson-Vanik amendment
restrictions. They were also limited by Soviet economic policies of central planning that
prohibited foreign investment and tightly controlled foreign trade.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, successive Russian leaders have been dismantling the
central economic planning system. This has included the liberalization of foreign trade and
investment. U.S.-Russian economic relations have expanded, but the flow of trade and investment
remains very low, as reflected in Table 1, which contains data on U.S. merchandise trade with
Russia since 2001.