Keeping a nation’s economy going is a very difficult balancing act. Things the country itself does, like pass new laws, can effect a countries economy greatly. Situations were economies are hurt by new laws are completely in the hands of the countries government. In some situations it’s not in their control at all. This is like the situation with Scotland and its trade with Russia. The actions Russia has taken with the Ukraine have caused the European Union to put sanctions on Russia. This intern has hurt Scotland’s economy greatly. The country usually exports 45 million GPD of food and drink to Russia but 22 million GPD was stopped by the sanctions. That is a huge loss in revenue and has far reaching affects, the normal trade of these countries can be seen in the image bellow. Also it not only affects that sector of the economy but ripples through the whole economy (Maddox). However, this situation is not a new one and its causes can be traced back to the Cold War.
