As Trump punishes allies with tariffs, no tariffs on Russia & Putin's ally North Korea

With the rollout of so-called reciprocal tariffs, US President Donald Trump has followed the trend of punishing allies and sparing adversaries.

While Trump has imposed high tariffs on some of the closest US allies and partners , such as Japan, South Korea, and India, he has spared Russia and North Korea.

Such a move is in line with Trump’s foreign policy in the second term where he has repeatedly battered allies, threatening them with invasions and slapping them with punitive economic policies, but has been nice with traditionally adversaries.

Read our full coverage of the rollout of Trump’s tariffs here

In his second term, Trump has upended the US-Russia relationship and has sought to turn Russia from an adversary into an ally. While he had always been friendly with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, he has formalised the affinity in his second term even as Putin has so far granted no concession in his aggression against the West in general or the war in Ukraine in particular.

Trump punishes friends, rewards foes

Trump on Wednesday imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all trade with the United States and imposed higher tariffs on a bunch of countries.

With the exception of China, which has attracted 34 per cent tariffs, nearly all countries slapped with the highest tariffs are key US allies and partners.

Trump has slapped India with 26 per cent tariffs, South Korea with 25 per cent tariffs, Japan with 24 per cent tariffs, and Taiwan with 32 per cent tariffs, according to a statement by White House on X.

Meanwhile, Trump has imposed no tariffs on Russia, North Korea, and Belarus. While he has imposed Israel, one of the closest US allies, with 17 per cent tariffs, he has slapped Israel’s archenemy Iran with just 10 per cent tariffs.

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The sting for Israel increases in light of the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had removed all tariffs on all US goods completely this week with the hope that the appeasement would make Trump spare the country in his trade war. However, Trump not only still slapped tariffs on Israel but slapped tariffs higher than Iran, a regime that considers the United States as its principal enemy and sponsors a host of anti-US and anti-Israel terrorist groups.

On its part, the White House has said that tariffs on Russia and other adversaries are absent as these countries are already under sanctions.

A White House official told The New York Times that countries like Cuba, Belarus, North Korea, and Russia have not been slapped with tariffs because “they are already facing extremely high tariffs and our previously imposed sanctions preclude any meaningful trade with these countries”.

Separately, a White House official told journalist Jasmine Wright that Russia is “not on this list because sanctions from the Ukraine war have already rendered trade between the two countries as zero”. However, the war did not prevent the United States from slapping Ukraine with 10 per cent tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also falsely pushed the same narrative.

Despite sanctions, US still trades with Russia, Iran, North Korea

In a false claim, Bessent told Fox News that there is no US-Russia trade so there is no point of tariffs.

However, the reality is that the United States still has trade with Russia, Iran, and North Korea. However, such trade is quite low in both volume and value.

In 2024, the total US-Russia trade was estimated at $3.5 billion with US exports amounting to $526.1 million and rest being imports from Russia.

US exports to Russia include essential pharmaceutical and medical supplies, such as vaccines and medical equipment, and Russian imports compromise radioactive chemicals and fertilisers.

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In 2023, US exported $59 million worth goods to Iran, such as medical equipment, vaccines, and pharma products. Iran exported around $2.2 million worth products to the United States, including paintings and sculptures.

In 2024, the United States exported goods worth $1.5 million, such as chemical, pharmaceuticals, and edibles, to North Korea.