U.S. President Donald Trump effectively imposed mutual tariffs of at least 10% on virtually the entire world—except Russia. This exemption for Russia, the only major country spared from Trump’s tariffs, draws attention to the underlying reasons.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that tariffs are meaningless for Russia as it is already subject to U.S. sanctions. She noted that Cuba, Belarus, and North Korea were also excluded as existing tariffs and sanctions are already very high.
However, local media are questioning the credibility of Leavitt’s explanation that meaningful trade with Russia is not possible. Axios, a U.S. political news outlet, pointed out that U.S. trade with Russia still surpasses that with countries like Mauritius and Brunei, which are on Trump’s tariff list. The mutual tariff list even includes tiny island territories such as Tokelau, a New Zealand dependency with a population of 1,500, and Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic territory with a population of 2,500.
Critics also highlight the contradiction between excluding Russia from tariffs due to their supposed ineffectiveness and Trump’s previous threats to use tariffs as leverage against Russia. In an NBC interview on March 30, Trump expressed his anger towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, threatening to impose “secondary tariffs” on Russian oil if the ceasefire agreement collapsed due to Russia’s actions.
Leavitt added that additional, stronger sanctions could be imposed on Russia.