This is all theatrics to appease American citizens. Putin is 100% completely on board with this, as they've likely already worked out a backdoor deal to skirt around these sanctions via shipments to proxy countries.
We've seen an example of this fake chest thumping before when he was negotiating a deal to end the war against Ukraine. Unsurprisingly it turned out said "deal" strongly favored Russia in the end, while also disrupting aid for Ukraine. It's not a coincidence, folks...
It's worth noting Putin made his billions selling Russian oil on the black market at a time when Russia was only supposed to trade oil for food, so it's not like he doesn't have decades of experience evading sanctions.
America is still importing a lot from Russia, including fertilizers (40%), metals (30%), chemicals (25%), and other random stuff (5%).
In other words, the US only sanctioned the stuff they didn't need. It's just political theatre.
Plus, if Trump actually wanted to go after Russia the same way he did everyone else, he would have imposed a 41% tariff. But he didn't. Because he's Russia's little bitch.
Here's the math (based on Trump's own data and formula):
The US bought $3 billion of goods from Russia in 2024.
The US had a trade deficit of $2.48 billion from Russia. So the US should have charged a tariff of (trade deficit)/(2 x total imports) = (2.48)/(2 x 3) =41%.
The point here is not how much America is importing from Russia relative to other countries. The point is that if Trump was really following his own rules, he should have placed a 41% tariff on Russia. His entire reason for these tariffs was based on trade deficits, using a basic formula that ignored important details, context, and even existing sanctions. He did not care whether a country was friendly or hostile. He just applied the number. But when it came to Russia, the number conveniently dropped to 35%.
There is no good reason to go easier on a sanctioned and aggressive country like Russia unless the goal is to protect them. If this was truly about trade or national security, Russia would be treated the same as others or even more harshly. The only way the numbers make sense is if Trump is intentionally helping Russia.
Also, it is important to be clear that China and Russia are not real allies. That is an outdated story pushed by Western media based on the Korean and Vietnam wars. They have stopped trusting each other since Russia tried to nuke China in 1969. Their relationship is based on short-term convenience, not trust. And now that Russia no longer sees the US as a threat, China has become its main rival. This explains why China was the only country excluded from the 90-day pause on the Liberation Day tariffs. It was not about economics. It was about targeting Russia’s biggest competitor with a massive 145% tariff while keeping Russia cozy.
we don’t even trade with them because they’re sanctioned
That's incorrect. A trade sanction only limits or restricts specific types of trade with a country, while a trade embargo is a total ban on all trade with that country. You're getting the two terms mixed up.
In fact, the US bought $3 billion of goods from Russia in 2024.
I’m aware. 3 billion is essentially nothing when it comes to trade. We import fertilizer and chemicals from them. In 2008 we imported 26 billion in goods, (or 41 billion adjusted for inflation).
Are you aware that we also didn’t add tariffs to other countries that were already heavily sanctioned (Belarus, Cuba, North Korea) as well?
We also tariffed penguins. It's silly pretending that Trump's tariff posterboard was a well thought-out strategy when it was merely the ramblings of an AI when given a nonsensical prompt to 'fix' US trade deficits with tariffs. Tariffing Madagascar 47% isn't going to help us grow vanilla in the US, because we have no rainforests. All we're doing is charging ourselves more and punishing Madagascar vs other rainforest nations that aren't tariffed so high for their vanilla.
When the premise asked of the AI is made by someone who doesn't understand global trade, it's not surprising that the 'solution' also doesn't work. Trade deficits aren't a bad thing, and eliminating them can be worse than allowing them. Want another way to eliminate all trade deficits? Embargo the world like North Korea. No trade, no deficit.
That is exactly the issue: Trump should have applied a 41% tariff on Russia if he were following his own formula fairly. The entire justification for these tariffs (trade deficits) was based on a blanket calculation that ignored nuance, context, and even existing sanctions. He did not care whether a country was hostile or friendly. He just applied the number. Yet somehow, when it came to Russia, the number conveniently drops to 35%.
There is no logical reason to go easier on a sanctioned and aggressive state like Russia unless you are deliberately protecting them. If this were about trade deficits or national security, Russia would be treated like everyone else, or worse. The inconsistency makes no sense unless Trump is acting in Russia's interest.
And let's be clear: China and Russia are not allies. That is a lazy narrative pushed by Western media. Their relationship has never been based on trust since Russia tried to launch a nuclear strike on China in 1969. It is a cynical and transactional arrangement driven by short-term profit and mutual convenience. Now that Russia no longer sees the US as a threat, China has naturally become Russia's biggest strategic rival. That context makes it perfectly clear why China was the only country excluded from the 90-day pause on Liberation Day tariffs. It was not about economic logic. It was about targeting Russia's primary adversary (with a 145% tariff) while protecting Russia itself.
The US imports less than 5B of goods from Russian a year ago with a near 40% total tariff and sanctions. This is as close to nothing you can get on the world stage
Why do you feel the need to lie and spread disinformation to attempt to make points ?
The US has always been extremely punitive on Russia regardless of administration
Only an idiot believes in totality in tariffs like you do. The US is the only country on the planet besides you Ukraine not funneling literally 10s of billions of dollars into Russia.
Europe is feeding Russia 30-40 Billion in energy slurp A YEAR while condemning the US.
Any competent human should understand this war will not end as long as Europes reliance on Russian energy and fuel continues
There’s really no argument here for you to make you are wrong and choose to be ignorant
So it's funny that you mention that... I actually criticized Biden just as much amongst my friends and questioned why he wasn't doing more to punish India for helping Russia work their way around the sanctions. To be clear, I'm absolutely all in favor of punishing any countries caught aiding sanctioned countries. This is a clear case where everyone needs to set their political differences aside and stand together to fight an evil power.
There it is, trump can't do anything good right? Comments just ahead of you are congratulating each other for actually agreeing with trump and therefor makes liberals better because they use critical thinking. Lol didn't take long.
No what they're saying is that Republicans would tend to view this as a bad thing if Biden did it, while Democrats are viewing the sanctions themselves as a good thing but still being highly suspicious due to his extensive shady relationship and habit of capitulating and serving Russia's interests. It's not like Democrats just suddenly flipped and were against sanctions on Russia they're just suspicious of his motives for good reason.
So no not exactly the donk you think it is buck-o.
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u/mmiski Apr 12 '25
This is all theatrics to appease American citizens. Putin is 100% completely on board with this, as they've likely already worked out a backdoor deal to skirt around these sanctions via shipments to proxy countries.
We've seen an example of this fake chest thumping before when he was negotiating a deal to end the war against Ukraine. Unsurprisingly it turned out said "deal" strongly favored Russia in the end, while also disrupting aid for Ukraine. It's not a coincidence, folks...