Summary
Russia was excluded from Trump’s sweeping tariff list due to existing U.S. sanctions that limit trade, White House officials claimed.
Despite lower trade volumes, countries like Syria were still included, prompting skepticism.
Trump has prioritized ending the war in Ukraine and threatened 50% tariffs on nations buying Russian oil. Russian state media framed the omission as sanctions-based, not favoritism, with some mocking Trump’s harsher stance on allies.
Ukraine, meanwhile, faces a 10% tariff despite the country’s strategic partnership with the U.S.
It’s probably dumber than you think why they weren’t on there. The formula they used to come up with the countries tarrifs rate is based simply on trade deficit calculations. So if you aren’t exporting/importing from those countries they wouldn’t be included. It doesn’t even matter if there was a trade surplus.
For example, take the figures for China:
Sources:
https://www.ft.com/content/e025d7e6-512d-4e82-9c25-7900b94ac153
https://news.sky.com/story/do-trumps-tariff-numbers-add-up-after-liberation-day-announcement-13340903
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/03/trumps-idiotic-and-flawed-tariff-calculations-stun-economists
I don’t see how that’s related to excluding particular countries.
Edit: What I mean is that I don’t understand how you conclude
based on the formula.