White House explained why Russia is not included in Trump's new tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a tariff of at least 10% on Wednesday for virtually the entire world, with one notable exception: Russia. The White House explained this in comments to American media, UNN writes.

Details

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told Axios on Wednesday that Russia was excluded because U.S. sanctions already "exclude any meaningful trade."

A White House official told journalist Jasmine Wright of NOTUS that Russia "is not on this list because sanctions over the war in Ukraine have already reduced trade between the two countries to zero," Newsweek notes.

However, the U.S. still trades more with Russia than with countries such as Mauritius or Brunei, which are on Trump's tariff list, Axios notes.

Even remote island territories such as Tokelau (population 1,500) in the South Pacific and Svalbard (population 2,500) in the Arctic Circle - territories of New Zealand and Norway, respectively - were included in the tariff list.

However, Leavitt noted that Cuba, Belarus, and North Korea were also not included because existing tariffs and sanctions on them are already too high.

As Axios notes, the value of trade between the U.S. and Russia has fallen sharply from about $35 billion in 2021 to $3.5 billion last year due to sanctions imposed in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia asked Trump to lift some of these sanctions as part of U.S.-brokered ceasefire talks, which the publication notes "have largely stalled."

Earlier this week, Trump threatened Russia with secondary oil tariffs. He also said he was "furious" with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over his recent comments about Ukraine.

Leavitt noted that Russia could still face "additional tough sanctions."

Two other major economies excluded from Trump's exhaustive list are Canada and Mexico. Leavitt confirmed that this was because Trump had already imposed a 25% tariff on both countries.

Addition

Ukraine, against which the Russian Federation has unleashed a war, will face a "reciprocal" U.S. tariff of 10%.