Trump Tariffs: Russia missing from 'Liberation Day' list - White House explains why

Donald Trump launched one of the most expansive tariff policies that the US has seen in last 100 years. From trading partners to nations that Trump deems as rivals, the Rose Garden speech was an attempt to showcase how the world has taken advantage and ‘ripped off’ the US with its ‘unfair trade practices.’

From Asian giants such as India and China to key allies such as the United Kingdom and Australia, over 100 nations featured in Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ list. One noticeable omission – Russia. Eagle-eyed netizens quickly pointed this out and many on social media started talking about how and why Russia was not mentioned by Trump.

It is not the first time that Trump’s alleged links to Moscow have been discussed with many bringing back the claims of him being recruited by the Russian spy agency KGB back in 1980s. Other highlighted the contrasting narrative – how Trump had said that he was angry with Putin over no finalisation of peace deal over Ukraine vs Russia getting out of the tariff war.

However, the White House later clarified as to why Russia was not part of the tariff list. As pert the White House officials, Russia is already facing stringent sanctions that anyway “preclude any meaningful trade.” Hence, Moscow didn’t find a place in trump’s list at the Rose Garden ceremony. Apart from Russia, other countries that were also skipped due to similar reasons include North Korea, Belarus and Cuba.

There are also a lot of criticism around the 'tariff formula' According to a Financial Times report, the White House and trade investigators took the American goods trade deficit with a particular country and divide it by total amount of goods imported from the nation in question. The report said that the formula held true for as many as 24 nations.