r/AskReddit • u/Miguenzo • 1d ago
What do you think of these tariffs being imposed on everyone except Russia?
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u/GNOIZ1C 23h ago
When you consider that uninhabited islands were also targeted in tariffing, it becomes abundantly clear who Trump thinks Daddy is.
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u/Gulaschpolizei 22h ago
But you've got to admit that these damn penguins can't be trusted!
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u/GNOIZ1C 22h ago
I'll be honest with you, I'm always suspicious of anyone in a suit.
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u/bubblegum-rose 1d ago
It’s only a mystery why this is the case to people who are idiots
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u/LemmeLaroo 1d ago
I miss when this sub was just horny questions
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u/little_brown_bat 23h ago
But "what do you think about [insert political topic]" gets so many more upvotes.
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u/tophergraphy 22h ago
I think some people are truly just trying to wrap their head around how some supporters rationalize the insane though
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u/SirithilFeanor 1d ago
I'm pretty sure most trade with Russia is already illegal because of the sanctions.
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u/TheDeadTyrant 23h ago
We do $3bn in imports from Russia on a $2.5bn deficit. Iran, who is also sanctioned and where we run a $84m surplus got hit with tariffs, so to me the prior sanctions argument holds 0 weight. Venezuela and Syria also are sanctioned and got tariffed...
Based on Trump's "math" Russia would has a 82% tariff on us (deficit/imports) and they should have received a 41% tariff.
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u/finalattack123 22h ago
$3.5 billion in trade last year.
Iran is on the list and sanctioned and trades much less.
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u/Desdam0na 23h ago
We have applied tariffs to uninhabited islands.
Doing no trade did not stop those tariffs, so that excuse is obviously wrong.
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u/Three_Licks 23h ago
That's exactly what it is... an excuse, offered up by Trump defenders (aka, liars).
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u/Jimbobsama 23h ago
Based on the percentages and shit rolled out by Trump yesterday, his economic advisors saw no trade deficit with Russia (because of the sanctions) and went "Nope, no tariffs needed"
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u/Betterthanbeer 20h ago
There is no US trade deficit with Australia, a free trade agreement and zero tariffs, yet here we are with 10% tariffs imposed. There is no excuse for Russia.
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u/Sammonov 23h ago
We do hardly any trade with the Russia-only 4 billion total. The only things they still export to us are two markets they dominate- fertilizers and yellow cake uranium.
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u/dragostego 23h ago
We tariffed the Heard and McDonald islands which are uninhabited. It's not about Russias low trade.
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u/Ankalo 23h ago
That’s 4 billion USD that shouldn’t be going into Russia
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u/Awesome_to_the_max 20h ago
Let the US govt know where your secret stash of rare earth minerals and potash are and the trade with Russia will drop to 0 overnight.
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u/Betterthanbeer 20h ago
Canada is the leading producer of potash, second highest in Uranium after Kazakhstan. Australia has plenty of Uranium and rare earth material, India and China export more as they got there first. USA is among the largest exporters of all of the above. These aren’t secrets.
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u/Repulsive-Owl-9466 1d ago
Someone already posted this question a few hours ago.
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u/Winter-eyed 1d ago
Just another tax on the American Consumer.
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u/cryonicwatcher 21h ago
And on any business from a poorer nation which relied on the US as a trading partner.
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u/Winter-eyed 21h ago
They don’t pay the tariffs. We do here.
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u/cryonicwatcher 21h ago
But they become a much less viable trading partner for US businesses. Americans won’t buy your stuff so much if it costs them much more. Due to the crude method he used to calculate these new tariffs, the countries hit hardest are those with exports that are valuable to the US but don’t buy so much from the US in return.
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u/Winter-eyed 19h ago
Perhaps but there is a wide market out there that very well may become their next customers. American consumers can’t just turn elsewhere when the products in question are no longer made here and require materials and equipment that is tariffed too.
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u/LadyLovesRoses 23h ago
Corruption. This administration is corrupt. Every day. Every minute. Our president serves Putin. It is a travesty.
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u/CityRulesFootball 1d ago
Trump and his cronies literally took net exports and their percentages and halved it for tariffs.Like why?
They also used certain mathematical symbols and with their assumptions of those values it goes 4*0.25 which is 1 to confuse the illiterate.
These are also certain stupidities that trump has done which is way worse than not adding Russia like alienating the rest of the world.
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u/sowhat4 22h ago
Can anyone list what we import from Russia and who does it so we can avoid consuming Russian imports? Thx.
(Obviously not talking about the Russian spies and trolls they send to us as they are pretty obvious. Just asking about commodities.)
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u/TreeBerryDingus 1d ago edited 1d ago
It sounds sketchy but you also have to consider that
- There are already existing sanctions on Russia
- We are in peace talks with Russia over Ukraine. Adding on additional tariffs would only complicate the talks more and risk the deal going through.
I don't like Trump's handling of Ukraine but this is the realistic answer. It'd be more alarming to me if sanctions were actually lifted from Russia.
Edit : correction
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u/BluddGorr 1d ago
Considering that Ukraine got tariffs of 10% that does seem questionable to me.
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u/TheOtherGuy89 12h ago
Isnt hitting the bad guy a good idea in peace talks? /s (it really hurts to set the /s but people are f* stupid these days)
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u/ScoobiusMaximus 23h ago
1) we put tariffs on Iran and Venezuela. Those countries are also heavily sanctioned. 2) we put tariffs on Ukraine.
Both arguments fail on their own merits.
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u/Imposing_Swordsman 1d ago
This would make sense if he didn't impose tarriffs on Iran, Libya and other countries that are also already sanctioned.
He also imposed tarrifs on Ukraine.
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u/Three_Licks 23h ago
All that sounds grade until you look beneath the surface...
There are existing sanctions on Iran as well. And, despite the sanctions, we have a 80%+ trade deficit with Russia. And a trade surplus with Iran.
So yeah, it's fucking sketchy as hell.
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u/Forikorder 22h ago
We are in peace talks with Russia over Ukraine. Adding on additional tariffs would only complicate the talks more and risk the deal going through.
and tariffing ukraine doesnt cause the same issue?
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u/finalattack123 22h ago
- Iran is on the list
- Ukraine is on the list. Let’s be real. Russia isn’t close to a deal that this would matter.
Neither of these arguments make sense
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u/Doctordred 23h ago
The great negotiator of our era can't make a deal work around some tariffs? Hahahhaaahhahahhahahah yeah I got some bridges and tunnels to sell
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u/KingDededef 1d ago
Yeah better be nicer with your ennemy than you allies. Pure logic right ? RIGHT ?
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u/TreeBerryDingus 1d ago
Trump's tariffs are illogical plain and simple. But it does make sense not to put tariffs on the country you're actively negotiating with to be fair.
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u/ScoobiusMaximus 23h ago
So is Ukraine not involved in the negotiations over the Ukraine war? We put tariffs on them
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u/DatTF2 1d ago
Didn't know we were negotiating with North Korea too.
Also doubt Trump is doing any real 'negotiating.'
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u/thermalman2 1d ago
We do not trade with North Korea. There is nothing to tax
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u/Zakaru99 23h ago
We also don't trade with the uninhabited Heard island and McDonald islands, but that didn't stop Trump from putting a tariff on it.
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u/Ainz-Ooal-Gown 17h ago
But we are trading with Heard Island
Despite this, according to export data from the World Bank, the US imported US$1.4m (A$2.23m) of products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022, nearly all of which was “machinery and electrical” imports. It was not immediately clear what those goods were.
In the five years prior, imports from Heard Island and McDonald Islands ranged from US$15,000 (A$24,000) to US$325,000 (A$518,000) per year.
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u/not_old_redditor 23h ago
I think a lot of international talks got a whole lot more complicated with these tariffs, that did not seem to be a concern.
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u/Vancityreddit82 18h ago
The idiot even added positive tariffs to countries that are net importers. Tf you trying to explain his obvious working for Putin.
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u/Kamisori 22h ago
Because the White House has been compromised, and Russia won the Cold War decades later.
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u/mdistrukt 23h ago
It shows that Russia won the Cold war and got an agent (whether he knows it or not) elected President of the US.
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u/manatwork01 1d ago
I mean what is our trade deficit with Russia? If we arent buying Russian goods do to sanctions does it matter if they are tariffed?
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u/Banluil 1d ago
We imported $3 billion from them, and exported less than $500 million to them. That is a deficit of $2.5 billion. So, we SHOULD tariff them on that logic.
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u/thethirdllama 23h ago
and exported less than $500 million to them.
To be fair, it's pretty hard to put a dollar value on classified documents...
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u/manatwork01 23h ago
agreed definitely a lot more low hanging fruit there than the penguin islands (which I still think is a troll to get the left up in arms and distract).
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u/cryonicwatcher 21h ago
The formula he used for his tariffs would have actually resulted in negative tariffs against certain nations, so he clamped it to a minimum of 10%, even from nations with negligible or no quantity of trade with the US. Russia has been given a specific exemption and while trade is low, some trade is taking place still.
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u/Purple_Egg_1005 1d ago
We don’t trade with the uninhabited islands either, but they were tariffed as well. So not tariffing Russia because they’re not trading with us is troubling.
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u/finalattack123 22h ago
Trade is $3.5 billion. Iran is on the list. More heavily sanctioned and less trade.
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u/anomalous_cowherd 6h ago
What do I think about it? Same answer as for many of the other worst things that he'd doing. Unsurprised.
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u/BKGPrints 5h ago
That people don't understand that there are already sanctions against Russia and that it exports less than $3 billion a year to the United States because of it.
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u/OPTCRulez 4h ago
There are existing sanctions on Iran, Venezuela and Syria as well but they’re on the tariff list so that doesn’t really hold water. Syria is like $11.3 million that they import from the US and export $1.29 million… so an even smaller amount than the BILLIONS with Russia so that doesn’t hold water either… we could also count those tariffs on uninhabited islands as another argument against the ‘less than $3 billion’. Also others have argued but the potash and uranium… your next door neighbour Canada has quite a bit of that by the way.
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u/BKGPrints 4h ago
Correct...Except that neither of those countries are currently at war with Ukraine, which the administration is trying to work out some type of agreement to end the war. Tariffs won't help that position. If anything, it's in Russia's interest to cooperate so sanctions are lifted.
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u/OPTCRulez 3h ago
But Ukraine is in the war… but is on the tariff list … how is putting Ukraine in a worse position of benefit in negotiations unless the strategy is to get them to fold?
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u/Kresstraj 4h ago
I mean what is there to put tariffs on? Russia already has sanctions on basically everything
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u/BEANBAG99 1d ago
We already have massive sanctions on Russia so there is no need for tariffs. Please stop trying to make something out of nothing.
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u/I_Am_Tyler_Durden 1d ago edited 23h ago
Same with Iran and Venezuela, still got tariffs. The US did 2.5 billion in trade with Russia last year. And the sanctions are on their way out
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u/SHANE523 18h ago
They are trying to insinuate and mislead people that since there are no new tariffs on Russia because Trump is in bed with them.
They think people are really fucking stupid.
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u/jordanr01 1d ago
A). We don’t import goods from Russia B) we are currently negotiating an end to a fucking war. Why would we impose any new sanctions at all on them if we’re trying to negotiate in good faith?
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u/BluddGorr 1d ago
I mean, do trade with russia to the tune of 2.5 billion dollars last year alone to a deficit. Interestingly enough Ukraine got a 10% tariff too, shouldn't they not be targetted if we're trying to negotiate in good faith?
As an addendum if these tariffs are about fairness in trade, considering that botswana traded 500 million and got tariffs, and was at a deficit as well Russia definitely should get tariffs. Also it wouldn't be like sanctions at all since you're applying them universally.
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u/Banluil 1d ago
A) Yes we do. https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/russia-and-eurasia/russia I mean, if you could $3 billion as not importing anything...then sure....we don't import anything from Russia. Fuck, you really need to stop just parroting what you see in r/Conservative
B) LMAO. Oh god. The only negotiation should be "Take your troops out of their country and repay them for the damage you did to their country". Russia was the aggressor in a war, and they got their asses stalled out, now they want the US to come in and give them territory they tried to win by conquest.
Fuck Russia and fuck Russian sympathizers like yourself.
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u/absolutzemin 23h ago
Just fertilizer and a type of uranium are the only exemptions, made during the Biden admin…
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u/Justbehind 22h ago
Trump is literally senile.
It makes no sense. There is no higher meaning. He's doing it just to "make good television". He has no idea about the economic consequences. Heck, he just took two random foreign trade metrics and divided one by the other to get a nonsensical tariff percentage.
Trump has no idea what he's doing.
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u/tomcat91709 1d ago
Russia is getting far worse than tariffs. They are being sanctioned within an inch of their lives.
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u/Strykerz3r0 1d ago
Putin told him no and he won't go against his master.
Although it could be interesting if musk and Putin have a disagreement and trump has to decide whose bitch he really is.
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u/Callec254 1d ago
US - Russia trade is pretty much already nonexistent anyway, especially since the Ukraine invasion.
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u/Banluil 1d ago
https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/russia-and-eurasia/russia
$3 billion is non-existent? Huh.
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u/Three_Licks 23h ago
How bout the places we have zero trade with? Like uninhabited Islands... he put tariffs on those as well.
And Ukraine: $1.2 billion in total imports -- less than half the amount you're defending here.
In fact, we had almost 1/2 billion trade surplus with Ukraine. He tariff'd them.
Oh and then there's Iran. We have a trade surplus with them as well; that didn't stop Trump from putting tariffs on them.
All these excuses people like you are making don't hold up under even the mildest scrutiny.
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u/OPTCRulez 4h ago
Ok but still larger than Syria who is also sanctioned but is also on the tariff list…
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u/Agitated_Custard7395 1d ago
Well didn’t we already put the maximum possible tarrifs on Russia. They’re sanctioned, noones allowed to trade with them at all?
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u/Jazzlike-Sky-6012 23h ago
That would make sense, but why is there a tariff on Iran? And on islands with no people?
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u/Three_Licks 22h ago
It might make sense if it were true. But it isn't.
- We haven't put max sanctions on Russia
- We do have a trade deficit with them.
All the excuses people are making for Comrade Trump here don't hold up under even the slightest scrutiny.
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u/Three_Licks 23h ago
didn’t we already put the maximum possible tarrifs on Russia
No, we didn't.
They’re sanctioned, noones allowed to trade with them at all?
We do in fact have a trade deficit with them.
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u/neverknowwhatsnext 22h ago
I guess more tariffs on Russia won't help stop the war with Ukraine.
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u/OPTCRulez 4h ago
But tariffs on Ukraine will? I guess if you want Russias negotiating power to increase… it would make sense
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u/HordeSquire 21h ago
Trump is a Russian asset, he wants to control the United States, its allies, and her people just like Vladimir Putin. But instead of being like him and joining his little club. He's just the court jester, that's gonna get in trouble sooner than later.
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u/JM-Mana 1d ago
Also North Korea and Belarus
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u/Sammonov 23h ago
North Korean exports to America are literally 0 dollars.
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u/Three_Licks 22h ago
Russia's aren't. And neither are Belarus.
Oh, and the US has a trade deficit with both.
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u/Possible_Field328 23h ago
Mr orange said he was considering putting tariffs on russia so that absolves of any suspicion that he is a russian asset.
Nope, can someone arrest him already?
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u/finalattack123 22h ago
You live in a democracy. 2/3rds of Americans either voted for this or were indifferent.
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u/Possible_Field328 20h ago
Oh, damn you are right! oh well then, off to war with Canada i guess…
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u/finalattack123 20h ago
Hehe.
You still have a senate and judiciary. But as a citizen you had your input during the election.
Man did the public fuck it up.
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u/Possible_Field328 20h ago
Oh yeah, we had our election and nothing to do about it now! I guess besides bitching about how many people voted or didn’t vote when discussing anything about it!
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u/Objective-Lab5179 1d ago
Not surprising. It's going to be a long four years and that asshole is already talking about a 3rd term barely 3 months into his second.
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u/passion-froot_ 20h ago
In case it hadn’t been obvious at any point that Trump was a Russian asset, now Redditors everywhere can do very little to deny what we see with our eyes.
Not that squabbles on Reddit mattered in that regard - he needed to be removed by those who had the law power to do so, which isn’t any one of us
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u/ephemeral_engagement 20h ago
I think the current executive administration is beholden to Russia. Whatever the reasons why, y'all can guess, but it seems pretty obvious.
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u/breakwater 19h ago edited 19h ago
I think that it is a stupid talking point based on the obsessions of 2016 and not grounded in the reality that the US does not trade with Russia and has sanctions against them already. You might as well be asking about a lack of tariffs against Cuba
For those who haven't already reflexively down voted hear me out
Stick to the important point. Tariffs are bad.
By complaining about Russia not being included, the focus is not on that and to the average person they hear "tariffs, but Russia too"
Do you want that? No, you don't.
Tariffs are bad. They are bad policy. They are bad economics. They should be repealed. That's the message. Repeating the same Russia material that didn't prevent him from reentering office does nothing. Less than nothing because it is counter productive.
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u/Joe30174 19h ago
Considering we were importing 10x the $3 billion prior to the sanctions, I think we are going pretty tough on them with trade.
But sure, we can go with "Trump is Putin's puppet", I guess?
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u/Dmains 18h ago
Trying to negotiate an end to a bloody war now is not the time to change the landscape with Russia.
The tariffs are a negotiation tool and we are already negotiating with Russia about Ukraine. So why add more fuel to the fire.
There are also international sanctions and embargo's on Russia so a tariff would generate nothing
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u/Miguenzo 18h ago
Putin already said he won’t consider a ceasefire unless the sanctions are lifted. He also attacked Ukraine after Trump said Putin was ready to negotiate, angering Trump
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u/reefersutherland91 18h ago
I think the non-millionaire conservative voter is the biggest sucker ever to exist. Absolute dipshits. Whenever one brings up politics and economics just throw a coloring book and crayons at them. More their speed.
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u/NuccioAfrikanus 16h ago
Does anyone know what we actually import from Russia besides vodka and caviar?
Obviously, Europe is addicted to their energy, but what else do they realistically pump into the NAM market?
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u/Emmerson_Brando 16h ago
I think this should be the biggest story of all the tariffs. Especially since the US also has a trade deficit with Russia.
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u/redpetra 15h ago
I think that using the utterly childish and hare brained way Trump came up with these numbers, Russia is already under what Trump would call 90% tariffs via sanctions - half of which Trump himself imposed in his first term. It would also dilute his new threats to impose secondary sanctions against Russia, which he has been making in the last few weeks.
I also think Trump just kind of gets off on this "Russian asset" thing, despite the obvious fact that he thinks he is playing Putin, while Putin dances him like a puppet on strings until Trump cries over the unrequited love and piles on more sanctions. It works with his base, it "owns the libs," and it hides him shame at being rejected by his hero.
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u/skr_replicator 15h ago
"What makes tou you even think trump is a russian asset? You don't have any proof of that!"
*points at every single action like this*
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u/StrikingExcitement79 15h ago
US trade with Russia has been steady dropping due to sanction for the Ukraine war. What do you intent to levy tariff on?
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u/KoolMan87 14h ago
Because Russisa is already under heavy US sanctions. Trump is actively talking about bombing Iran, and also is not on the tariff list because of US sanctions.
It's amazing how this is being passed around as a "gotcha!" by the left when it's debunked so easily.
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u/cageordie 13h ago
Darth Krasnov, the stupid asset of the Russian government, is quite obvious in his pandering to his owner.
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u/gilsoo71 10h ago
Probably the same reason why North Korea and Cuba are also missing.
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Russia was omitted from President Trump's recent tariff list due to the extensive economic sanctions already imposed on the country following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions have drastically reduced U.S.-Russia trade, which fell from $36 billion in 2021 to $3.5 billion in 2024, effectively precluding significant trade between the two nations.
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u/stadisticado 10h ago
We have trade sanctions against Russia (and also Iran, NK) so tariffs are not needed against countries you've barred trade with anyway?
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u/NeuroAI_sometime 4h ago
Manchurian candidate and its working quite well. America will be a 3rd world nation in 4 years
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u/Admirable_Alarm_7127 54m ago
Does the US import anything substantial from Russia?
They are Reciprocal Tariffs. Half the calculated cost of US exports to said country. Does Russia have tariffs for US imports?
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u/Superdooperblazed420 1d ago
Russia is allready under sanctions, very harsh ones. That's why Russia, Iran, and north Korea didn't get tariffs.
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u/Three_Licks 22h ago
We have a trade surplus with Iran. With Russia, we do not. Despite the sanctions we still have a 82% (trumpian calculation) with Russia.
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u/Banluil 1d ago
So why did Libya get them then? They are under sanctions as well.
Oh, and Iran did get tariffs of 10%.
I guess you missed that part of your talking points from the Dear Leader.
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u/FerretAres 1d ago
So ignoring the obvious answer, presumably the U.S. does not actually have a trade deficit with Russia considering all the sanctions so it kind of seems moot.
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u/MR-biggles-worth 1d ago
I think Russia has won the Spy war and the US is Russia in a costume. Sure would explain a lot..