Donald Trump on Wednesday announced baseline tariffs on all countries, including allies, which he claimed are the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S.
They include a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and further, more targeted tariffs on many countries, including 34% on China, 20% on the European Union, 46% on Vietnam and 32% on Taiwan.
However, observers were quick to point out that Russia was not included in Trump’s list of countries targeted by tariffs, but Ukraine is.
A White House official told NOTUS that the reason for Russia’s omission was “because sanctions from the Ukraine war have already rendered trade between the two countries as zero.”
While trade between the US and Russia did drop significantly after the US impose sanctions on Russia for their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, it did not fall to zero.
According to 2024 Forbes report trade between the US and Russia did “plummet to lowest levels since [the] demise of Soviet Union,” but the November YTD total at that time was $4.81 billion.
