The White House pushed back on critics who have pointed out President Donald Trump conspicuously missed Russia from sweeping new round of global tariffs issued Wednesday.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios the omission was by design, explaining that existing sanctions against Moscow already “preclude any meaningful trade.”
But that explanation raised more questions than it answered. After all, as Mediaite’s Sarah Rumpf pointed out, the U.S. still trades more with Russia than it does with some of the microstates and territories that did make the list — in its piece, Axios pointed to Tokelau (population: 1,500) and Norway’s Arctic outpost of Svalbard (population: 2,500).
Leavitt defended the move by pointing out that countries like Cuba, Belarus, and North Korea were also skipped due to already sky-high restrictions.
“Russia could still face additional strong sanctions,” she added — a nod to Trump’s recent frustrations with the country’s President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine war peace talks progress.
The president told reporters this week he was “pissed off” at the Russian leader over his latest remarks on Ukraine, and even floated the possibility of secondary tariffs on Russian oil.
Source : https://www.mediaite.com/news/white-house-spins-as-russia-omitted-from-tariffs-list/
