r/IntellectualDarkWeb • u/Desperate-Fan695 • 3d ago
Why no tariffs on Russia?
As we learned yesterday, Trump's calculated "tariffs charged" by foreign countries aren't actually tariffs but rather based on trade deficits with a minimum of 10%.
The tariffs apply to 185 different countries and territories. Even extending to remote, uninhabited islands that have no trade with the US.
So the question I have... why not Russia? Not only do we still trade with Russia, we have a 2.5 billion dollar trade deficit with them. By Trumps own criteria, they should have been on the list. It seems we're really not beating the claims of allegiance to Putin.
56
u/Shortymac09 3d ago
Because Trump is buddies with Russia...
Hell, he put a blanket 10% tariff on countries we have a trade surplus with and an island chain with 0 people living there.
But Russia, Belarus (a Russian client state), and North Korea don't get anything.
1
u/Chistachs 2d ago
I hate Trump, and these tariffs are dumb as hell, but….this is a really stupid take lol.
There was no tariff imposed on Russia because there’s no meaningful trade with Russia…We’ve already sanctioned the shit out of them, tariffs wouldn’t have done a thing.
11
u/Shortymac09 2d ago
Considering we did 3.5 billion dollars in trade with them last year, I don't think that is insignificant.
-3
u/Chistachs 2d ago
Do you understand what sanctions are? There was a 34% decrease in trade between 2023 and 2024
This is not meaningful trade lmao
13
u/Shortymac09 2d ago
So what? He literally slapped 10% tarriffs on an island without people on it, but somehow Russia is exempt?
-5
u/Chistachs 2d ago
They’re not exempt. They’re having sanctions imposed on them lmao
9
5
u/abetterthief 2d ago
Why do you not get how the sanctions part of the equation shouldn't matter. Other countries on the tariff list are also sanctioned. Why isn't Russia also on the list?
Sanctions DO NOT mean all trade stops. It means parts of the country's trade and finance sectors are black listed. Not all trade. That's why it's plural and not singular. SanctionS
0
u/Chistachs 2d ago
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1117?language=en_US
Another user provided a simpler version of what I’m trying to say.
NTR countries are all impacted by tariffs. Non-NTR countries typically are not engaged with like that. Because our dealings with these countries are very different.
The current HTS Column 2 (non-NTR) countries are: Cuba, NK, Belarus, and Russia.
Hope that makes sense to you!
5
u/Shortymac09 2d ago
Again, what's stopping him from adding a tariff on top of the sanctions?
We have sanctions on Iran, they still recieved a 10% tariff.
4
u/lousy-site-3456 2d ago
Sanctions are most of the time specific to certain exports or imports. There is no blanket embargo on trade with Russia. Putting terrace on the products that are actually still imported from Russia would make perfect sense. On the other hand there is a country that has a blanket embark and that is Iran and they get a tariff.
5
u/Accomplished-Leg2971 2d ago
Billions in trade with Russia, strongly reduced by sanctions, but still substantial.
I can import non-sanctioned goods from Russia without paying import taxes. I have to pay import taxes to bring in non-sanctioned goods from Iran.
Why?
4
u/rcglinsk 2d ago
It's slightly more subtle.
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1117?language=en_US
Duty rates for goods from most countries are listed in Column 1, General sub column of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). Countries whose goods qualify for these rates are considered countries with which the United States has "Normal Trade Relations"(NTR). Countries not covered by NTR are commonly referred to as "Column Two" countries, meaning duty rates for products from these countries are listed in Column two of the HTS. Currently, the countries with Column Two status are Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Belarus.
So, the big list of countries with the new tariffs is just column 1/NTR countries. No, I have no idea why Iran is considered a Normal Trade Relations country. I don't think this is well thought out.
3
u/Accomplished-Leg2971 2d ago
That's just a bog standard government semantics Kafka shuffle. Shouldn't fool anyone.
"American importers are exempt from duties on non-sanctioned goods from Russia because they have Column 2 status."
1
u/rcglinsk 1d ago
Sure, but the date published on that column nonsense is 12/16/24. And it's number whatever in a line of updates. I don't know if there might be any misunderstanding, but the extent there might be:
This is a case of longstanding stupidity, not recent, ad hoc stupidity.
1
u/Accomplished-Leg2971 1d ago
It's a case of longstanding stupidity colliding with recent stupidity leading to unintended results. Many such cases.
1
3
2
•
u/Complete-Rub2289 2h ago
That doesn’t explain Iran (2nd most sanctioned after Russia) though which got into the tariff list
1
u/rcglinsk 2d ago
The tarrifs only apply to countries that the Untied States has "Normal Trade Relations" with. The list of NTR countries for some includes Iran. So they made the tariff list. But it doesn't include Cuba, Belarus, Russia and North Korea.
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1117?language=en_US
So, if the country is not an NTR list country, then the tariff schedule doesn't apply, and you instead have to follow the gigantic ball of rules, sanctions, restrictions, etc. that apply to the non-listed countries.
-44
u/PermutationMatrix 3d ago
Billions given to Ukraine. Don't piss off Russia. Come to some sort of peace deal. Let the USA get those valuable resources from Ukraine to recoup some losses.
30
u/Shortymac09 3d ago
WTF is that word salad?
It makes you sound like a bot. Are you okay? Do you need to get off the internet for a while?
7
-9
u/PermutationMatrix 3d ago
It's honestly not hard to comprehend. Trump is trying to improve relations with Russia. He is hoping to end the war. He is hoping to access Ukrainian natural resources. If he applies tariffs on Russia and angers them further, it will weaken relations with them and risk future negotiations. If Russia goes all in and eventually succeeds at annexing all of Ukraine, the US doesn't get anything.
19
u/Shortymac09 3d ago
How is punishing your allies and rewarding your enemies "improving relations".
-14
u/PermutationMatrix 3d ago
It appears as though he's attempting to change the status quo where the USA was being exploited financially for decades
16
u/0v3reasy 3d ago
Being exploited by...checks notes...being the worlds richest nation? Gee whiz, what a terrible situation.
11
u/Shortymac09 3d ago
Yeah, by having the US lose it's superpower status which benefits Russia and China.
7
u/kudatimberline 3d ago
Okay, I see where your head is at, but I dunno... I just don't understand why you would burn bridges with so many close allies, but pander to Russian interests in the name of "improving relations".
20
u/OursIsTheRepost SlayTheDragon 3d ago
“The White House, through Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, explained to Axios that Russia was excluded from the reciprocal tariffs list because existing U.S. sanctions, imposed following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, already "preclude any meaningful trade" between the two countries. This aligns with statements from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox News on April 2, 2025, that the U.S. does not trade meaningfully with Russia due to these sanctions, suggesting that tariffs would be redundant.”
29
u/Desperate-Fan695 3d ago
So what about the hundred other countries on the list that do less trade than Russia? Wish reporters would ask these questions.
16
u/higgsbison312 3d ago
Because whatever trade there is with Russia, it cannot be touched or messed with. Thats why it’s survived the sanctions. Probably has to do with some protected sectors. I believe it was uranium or some shit like that.
9
u/itsnotthatsimple22 3d ago
Radioactive chemicals, platinum and fertilizer.
4
u/SwampKingKyle 3d ago
Platinum and fertilizer are protected? But milk and potash aren't? Interesting.
4
u/itsnotthatsimple22 3d ago
Platinum likely for industrial use, and there has been a shortage of fertilizer because we used to get a whole bunch of it from Ukraine.
5
u/Sevsquad 3d ago
Do you think we don't have critical trade with any of the other countries we've levied these tariffs at? Do you know where Steel and Alluminum come from?
10
u/burnaboy_233 3d ago
That’s just total BS, we don’t have trade with uninhabited islands and they still got tariffs.
8
7
u/Soggy_Association491 3d ago
A country not having trade with B country is very different from A country sanctioning B country.
5
u/Accomplished-Leg2971 3d ago
Strange that does not match the trade data, which showed about $3bn in imports in 2024. This only makes sense if Leavitt is lying, but we all know that government officials never lie.
2
5
u/BodheeNYC 3d ago
wtf are we putting tariffs on? Vodka and caviar?
25
u/Skylair13 3d ago
Low-Enriched Uranium (imported by Centrus, which supplies U.S Nuclear power plants)
Fertilizers
Non-Ferrous Metals
Inorganic chemicals
Some that the U.S still imports from Russia.
7
u/PappaBear667 3d ago
The amount of uranium that the US imports from Russia is negligible (≈ 300 tons last year). We (Canada), followed by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, all export more to the US than Russia. That said, uranium was specifically singled out for a reduced tariff rate when they were slapped on us, so I don't see why the other 3 countries would be any different.
1
u/Skylair13 3d ago
Could be the companies managed to lobbied for it? Stating it's strategic or some other points.
I was only answering what they still import from Russia. Not the why, or why they don't get trade tariffs.
2
u/PappaBear667 2d ago
Oh! The why (as related to uranium) is easy. The US doesn't have or produce enough to meet their needs. They've been importers of uranium since 1980 or 81.
4
u/Snotmyrealname 3d ago
I suspect that the Kremlin has influence over the whitehouse.
1
-4
u/Chistachs 2d ago
Hate Trump and hate the tariffs (it’s my industry), but dude this is dumb as hell.
We didn’t put tariffs on Russia because we don’t have meaningful trade with Russia. We’ve sanctioned the shit out of them - we don’t need tariffs.
You’re on some real blue anon shit. Making the rest of us look bad :(
3
u/Snotmyrealname 2d ago
0
u/Chistachs 2d ago
34% decrease in trade from 2023…
Do you understand what sanctions are?
2
u/Snotmyrealname 2d ago
3.5B sounds an awful lot like meaningful trading.
1
u/Chistachs 2d ago
Jeez you have no clue what you’re talking about, huh.
Do you understand what sanctions are?
2
u/Snotmyrealname 2d ago
I’m fairly confident I have a rudimentary understanding. An additional tax on trade with a specific entity above a certain dollar amount.
What’s with the gaslight-y tone? It’ve been kinder simply to say “You’re wrong” and sent a link to a definition.
2
u/Chistachs 2d ago
Didn’t mean to be so snarky about it, these conversations get frustrating when all of a sudden everyone’s an international trade expert!
An easy way to think about it is via HTS. Normal Trade Relations (NTR) countries are the only ones that we typically engage in tariffs with.
Non NTR countries (HTS column 2) are not typically impacted. Currently those countries are: Cuba, North Korea, Belarus, and Russia
Effectively it’s because we’re not engaged in “typical trade relations” with these countries. Sure there’s movement of goods, but it’s not the same as our dealings with other countries.
Thanks for calling me out! Some others in these comments are extremely confidently incorrect. I appreciate your trying/willingness to learn.
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1117?language=en_US
2
u/Snotmyrealname 2d ago
Thanks dude. I appreciate you taking the time to cure a strangers ignorance. Especially one who waves it for everyone to see. I’ll read up and try to be better informed.
2
u/Nahmum 2d ago
You keep repeating the same wrong thing on a bunch of threads.
Read the Mueller report. Read the Jack Smith report. The president is a traitor. There is no blue anon. Beyond that, consider the simple question "If the whitehouse were under the influence of Russia, what would they do differently?
And your claims about Russia's trade insignificance are wrong, as explained by others.
1
u/ggdthrowaway 2d ago
I read the Mueller report. Could you describe the treachery described in it?
1
u/Ozcolllo 1d ago
What was the predicate for the investigation? If you aren’t lying, it’ll be really easy to answer your own question.
1
u/ggdthrowaway 1d ago
They started the investigation because they had suspicions they wanted to investigate. After they had been fully investigated, what specific treason from Trump did the investigation uncover?
1
u/Nahmum 2d ago
You keep repeating the same wrong thing on a bunch of threads.
Read the Mueller report. Read the Jack Smith report. The president is a traitor. There is no blue anon. Beyond that, consider the simple question "If the whitehouse were under the influence of Russia, what would they do differently?
And your claims about Russia's trade insignificance are wrong, as explained by others.
1
u/Chistachs 1d ago
You seem a tad nuts, but here’s some more detail on what I was talking about:
Per HTS, countries are split into a couple of categories. Normal Trade relations (NTR), and non-NTR.
Every country impacted by the recent tariffs are on the NTR list.
Countries on the non-NTR list do not have typical trade with the US. The non-NTR countries are: Cuba, NK, Belarus, and Russia
https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1117?language=en_US
I hope this helps educate you a little bit :)
1
u/Ozcolllo 1d ago edited 1d ago
Read the Mueller report.
lol. An entire media ecosystem made it their mission to ensure that Americans knew nothing about the contents of that report. Honorable mention to Bill Barr for preempting it’s release and explicitly lying about Mueller’s findings. Most of them still believe Steele’s dossier was the predicate for the investigation. If you wanna become really cynical, ask anyone that claims it was a witch-hunt what the predicate was (you have to know this to claim as much).
Not sure you can claim he’s a traitor, but it’s undeniable the sole change to the 2016 platform was to soften our support of Ukraine, Manafort was sharing election data with a Russian agent (Konstantin Kilimnik), there were several proven communications between his campaign and Russia, and Popadopalous (and many others) had knowledge of Russia’s hacking of the DNC and Clinton’s campaign manager as well as knowledge of Wikileaks’ tactics to use that information to damage her as much as possible before this was ever made public. There’s more, like a Russian oligarch paying Trump like 3 times the value of a property in 2008, but I’ll spare you the wall of text. So yeah, traitor is a strong word, but considering all of his actions… it’s not unreasonable to be concerned about his decision making when it comes to Russia.
-5
u/aurenigma 3d ago
i suspect that you're terrified at the thought of thinking for yourself
6
u/Snotmyrealname 3d ago edited 2d ago
The thought that the hegemon has been supplanted by subtefuge is terrifying in its implications and ramifications. Attempting to deny that is not only foolish, but damn near treasonous in my eyes.
But I am not hysterical. I’m not buying gold and guns or screaming in the streets. I am careful in my assumptions and well aware of the fact that I am often wrong. But the continual favor the continual administration shows to the Kremlin is disquieting and all the excuses assholes on the internet offer to dissuade my concerns only deepens them. Your backhanded attempt to dismiss them with no proof or explanation only makes you seem like another talking head.
Do better.
4
u/zer0_n9ne 3d ago
We aren’t supposed to be doing any trade with Russia. If we really do have a deficit with Russia then what are we trading?
3
u/russellarth 3d ago
We all know.
MAGA and conservatives as a whole have their heads buried in Trump's asshole.
Democrats and liberals can only complain so much. We have TDS, of course.
Things need to change. People need to be shamed out of polite society.
Stuff's about to get real bad, and it's all on really loud, really dumb people. Many of which are here.
I predict a lot of people pretending not to be so hard for Trump very soon. But the rest of us will remember.
1
u/Ozcolllo 1d ago
TDS is a more apt descriptor for the cult-like behavior of his supporters than his critics. I hope it’s a product of the batshit insanity of the conservative media ecosystem’s monolithic and ubiquitous propaganda and not something worse.
3
2
2
u/rcglinsk 2d ago
Cuba, North Korea, Russia and Belarus have their own bureaucratic division that handles their sanctions. Or something like that.
And, sorry, no, I have no idea why Iran is not part of that bureau.
2
1
u/Accomplished-Leg2971 2d ago
Seems like Trump's poorly planned tarrif regime collided with a previous poorly designed sanctions regime leading to unintended results. So American enterprise can import non-sanctioned goods from Russia tax-free.
1
u/remmywinks 2d ago
Because as we “continue” ceasefire negotiations - factors we can leverage must remain in a vacuum until used as negotiation currency
1
u/Reasonable_South8331 1d ago
Because Trump needs Putin to agree to a peace deal, or he would look bad on a campaign promise. Putin doesn’t need Trump to do anything, so he has the high ground in terms of negotiation
0
-6
u/No_Adhesiveness4903 3d ago
Good question.
If I had to say, it’s to retain some modicum of goodwill while active negotiations over Ukraine are ongoing. Or because we already sanction them.
“Claims of allegiance to Putin”
One of the most smooth-brained takes that’s graced Reddit in a long time.
4
u/Desperate-Fan695 3d ago
One of the most smooth-brained takes that’s graced Reddit in a long time.
Why? You think there's no possibility of Russian collusion? Or you think it's already been clearly proven?
-8
u/No_Adhesiveness4903 3d ago
“LiTeRaL RuSsIaN AgEnT!!!”
Yes, that’s moronic.
It holds as much intellectual weight as saying Biden was owned by China.
Only morons talk like that.
7
u/Desperate-Fan695 3d ago
Did you ever read the "10% for the big guy" email? What happened to that Chinese business deal? The "big guy" turned it down because it would be a conflict of interest.
When did Biden give Hunter a White House position which he used to sell billions of dollars in weapons to the Saudis? Oh right, that was Trump and Kushner. When did Biden launch a meme coin scam raking in billions? Oh, that was Trump and Melania. When did Biden call up Ukraine and ask for dirt on his political opponents? Oh right...
You're right, there's probably nothing there, Trump would never do anything corrupt and clearly hates Putin and would never do anything favorable for him... how silly of me
2
u/aurenigma 3d ago
you realize that you drive people further away with this shit, right?
whole ass investigations during his first term, YEARS of y'all claiming he's in bed with Russia, and we still fucking voted for hit
he won the popular vote even
the fucking russia line is clearly not working; no one sane believes it; think of something new
-1
u/Plus_Lifeguard_8527 3d ago
If he would have you'd be asking right now"why would trump put tarrifs on Russia knowing it could put the negotiations at risk?"
4
u/perfectVoidler 3d ago
what negotiation. Putin told Trump to fuck off.
1
u/Plus_Lifeguard_8527 3d ago
1
u/perfectVoidler 2d ago
sure
2
u/Plus_Lifeguard_8527 2d ago
Are you saying the russian negotiator isn't here in washington negotiating this week?
0
u/perfectVoidler 2d ago
I didn't know that the placement of an negotiator concludes the negotiation. The more I learn from you.
2
u/Plus_Lifeguard_8527 2d ago
You just said there wasn't a negotiation.
Now, doesn't this discussion prove that you really don't give a fuck about negotiations or the Ukrainian people or how this country ends up? You just give a fuck about people agreeing with you.
1
u/perfectVoidler 2d ago
I never said that there wasn't a negotiation. You should read AND understand what you are replying to.
1
-2
u/manchmaldrauf 2d ago
There never was any allegiance to Russia, because that doesn't make any sense. Everything you know is wrong. Trump doesn't have any allegiance to anyone or thing. Just a kind of patriotism, that some of us find endearing, thanks, and even inspirational, though that does sound weird to write out loud.
That's why he needs a third term. It's already in the zeitgeist as being acceptable, and he'll get the votes. Either way it's him or Vance and nothing short of a major false flag or world war, or I guess both, will prevent a maga victory in 2028. Or a virus. Don't do the virus shit again, but if you do... still not getting it, and i know i'm not mad, because i recently got a tetanus booster.
-2
u/FrostyAlphaPig 2d ago
Yeah why does Europe spend more money on Russian gas/oil than what it sends to Ukraine?
0
-2
u/JoeCensored 3d ago
What products would we even tariff? Nearly all Russian products are banned due to existing sanctions.
10
u/Desperate-Fan695 3d ago
There are exemptions to the sanctions. Not saying it's a huge amount (around $3B per year), but that's still much more than about 100 other countries/territories that just got tariffed.
-2
u/ADRzs 3d ago
Even before the sanctions, US trade with Russia was nearly non-existent. But the main reason is the simplistic formula they used to calculate tariffs!! Poor nations that cannot afford to buy US goods, ended up with huge tariffs, countries like Lesotho and Laos!!! The whole calculation and rationale for these tariffs is comedic!!
-3
u/complextube 3d ago
You really need to ask about something so obvious? Are the intellectuals on here actually stumped by this? Wild.
86
u/Worried-Pick4848 3d ago
Russia is already under sanctions. We're not supposed to be trading with them at all.