[cowpig]

Agree, and I find this totally bizarre.

The Trump administration's power is based in the Russian propaganda machine and xenophobia. Blanket tariffs (except towards Russia and Belarus, not mentioned in Ben Thompson's article of course) are in service of those two power bases.

[kjksf]

US is still sanctioning Russia, meaning there's zero trade between US and Russia. It's illegal for US people and companies to buy from Russia.

That's why there are no tariffs on Russia: there's no trade, there's nothing to tariff.

I don't see how you concluded that US is currently "in service of Russia".

[j4coh]

Are you sure? In 2024, exports of Russian goods to the US totaled $3.27bn, and the US exported $526m worth of goods to Russia. Not a ton, but more than many countries that received tariffs. Or what definition of zero trade are you using?

[cowpig]

> US is still sanctioning Russia, meaning there's zero trade between US and Russia. It's illegal for US people and companies to buy from Russia.

Quoting the Trump administration:

U.S. goods exports to Russia in 2024 were $526.1 million, down 12.3 percent ($73.5 million) from 2023. U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $3.0 billion in 2024, down 34.2 percent ($1.6 billion) from 2023. [0]

If the same formula were applied to Russia as every other country in the world, the Russian tariff would be above 40% since it's half of (3500-500)/3000 = 85.7%

[0]: https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/russia...

[cowpig]

The tariffs undermine US-Europe alliance, and US hegemony. These are core goals of Putin's Russia.