With the United States threatening broad sanctions against the Russian economy, what that would mean for businesses in Connecticut is difficult to tease out.
For the state’s largest industrial firm, United Technologies Corp., an old-fashioned trade war would almost exclusively be bad news, even though analysts say that scenario is unlikely.
On the negative side, aerospace firms like United Technologies could face higher prices on commodities, especially titanium, because Russia is one of the largest producers of the metal. And if natural gas exports were curtailed from Russia to Europe, that too would increase costs for company operations there.
“Its economy is mostly a gas station and a mine,” Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group based in Fairfax, Va., said of Russia.
President Barack Obama issued an executive order last week giving the Department of the Treasury the power to sanction key sectors in the Russian economy, including financial services, energy, metals and mining, defense and related material, and engineering.