Recently, US President Donald Trump has announced the introduction of new duties on goods from different countries, but Russia remained outside the list of countries to which these tariffs will be applied. The Director of the US National Economic Council Kevin Gasset explained why Russia did not fall under these new restrictions.
In an interview for ABC News, Gasset noted that the main reason for this was the desire to not mix the issue of trade with peace talks to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. He stressed that the US is now actively negotiating with Russia and Ukraine, and the introduction of new duties during these negotiations would be "inappropriate". "It is obvious that negotiations with Russia and Ukraine are ongoing, and I think the President has made the decision not to mix these two problems," Gasset explained. According to him, the introduction of new tariffs against the backdrop of peace talks could have a negative impact on the process that is crucial for the lives of people in Ukraine, Russia and the USA. The decision not to include Russia in the list of countries that new duties apply to, has become the subject of questions in the media. Critics say that US allies, such as Europe, Canada and Mexico, will be forced to pay more because of new tariffs. However, the White House, explaining this decision, noted that Russia is already under high sanctions, which significantly limit the opportunities for full trade with this country. Moreover, North Korea, Cuba and Belarus also did not fall on the list of new duties on a similar logic.
According to the French edition of LE Monde, analysts estimated that if Russia had fallen under Trump's new tariffs, the Kremlin Customs Customs Customs Customs Council could reach 42%. However, as Gasset noted, to mix the issues of economic policy and peace negotiations would be non -purposefully at such a difficult moment for international relations.
