White House explains why it did not include Russia and North Korea in the tariffs

The White House explained to the media Thursday its decision not to include Russia, North Korea, Cuba or Belarus in the latest round of tariffs that were imposed on dozens of global trading partners. It will be some 180 countries and territories that will be affected by the new levies.

An official from the Donald Trump administration told The Hill in a statement that the above four countries "are not subject to the Executive Reciprocal Tariff Order because they already face extremely high tariffs and our previously imposed sanctions prevent any meaningful trade with these countries."

However, Iran, which also faces international and US sanctions, will be affected by the new tariffs, receiving a 10% levy on its products.

The source, who is not identified in the newspaper, added that the US president "has recently threatened to impose strong sanctions on Russia" to further explain why he left Moscow off the trade tax list.

Highest tariffs

Trump imposed a 10% base tax on goods imported into the US on Wednesday, but many countries will have even much higher tariffs, including China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and the European Union.

China will face the highest rates, with a 34% tariff to be imposed on top of a previously implemented 20% tariff, for a total of 54% on all goods.

Other high numbers include 46% for Vietnam, 32% for Taiwan, 32% for Indonesia and 49% for Cambodia.

Trump also declared last month that he is considering imposing sanctions and additional tariffs on Russia to get Moscow to the negotiating table and end the war in Ukraine. Weeks later, Russia stated that it expects the United States to relax certain sanctions as part of an agreement for a limited ceasefire with Ukraine.