this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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Summary

Russia was excluded from Trump’s sweeping tariff list due to existing U.S. sanctions that limit trade, White House officials claimed.

Despite lower trade volumes, countries like Syria were still included, prompting skepticism.

Trump has prioritized ending the war in Ukraine and threatened 50% tariffs on nations buying Russian oil. Russian state media framed the omission as sanctions-based, not favoritism, with some mocking Trump’s harsher stance on allies.

Ukraine, meanwhile, faces a 10% tariff despite the country’s strategic partnership with the U.S.

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[–] hansolo@lemm.ee -2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

FFS people, sanctioned countries were not included. Somalia, Burkina Faso....also not included.

Let them deal in baseless conspiracy. Please deal in fact here.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

However, nations with even less trade with the US - such as Syria, which exported $11m of products last year according to UN data quoted by Trading Economics - were on the list.

According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, the US imported goods from Russia worth $3.5bn (£2.7bn) in 2024. It mainly consisted of fertilisers, nuclear fuel and some metals, according to Trading Economics and Russian media.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yep, it's fertilizer and related exempt at inputs. Prior to the war trade with Russian was closer to $30B.

The trade sanctions exist outside of tariff policy, so it's probably too complicated for ChatGPT (and therefore these clowns) to sort out easily.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Let them deal in baseless conspiracy

so it's probably too complicated for ChatGPT

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's a possibility that someone used an LLM to formulate the tariff percentages. That's not baseless, there's evidence based on replication and similar language in the USTR site.

Which makes it a funny joke to suggest that they did the entire tariff plan top to bottom in ChatGPT.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's also a much stronger possibility that Trump simply didn't want to piss off Putin.

Why are you trying to find a more complicated answer?

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Less complicated is:

"Tariff rates go brrrrrr"

"But it's hard to add this to sanctioned countries because it involves doing work."

'Then don't, lol, FTW. Tell Grok to leave them out."

Grok and all appointees involved are idiots

"Here's a list of important places that need tariffs."

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

And you're back to the "list was generated by AI" conspiracy.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 17 hours ago

Well, this is an openly jokey theocratical comment, so yeah.

[–] drhodl@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Maybe the fertilizer president wants freedom of fertilizer?

[–] 52fighters@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

President Biden also took a lot of flack from Europe when he maintained trade in Russian uranium despite their putting rules into effect concerning Russian oil. There are a few things that both parties aren't willing to give us regarding Russia.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

FFS people, sanctioned countries were not included

Iran and Syria were included.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And so were uninhabited islands. I'm not saying these people are geniuses. I'm saying that Grok probably said to skip sanctioned countries and they got that mostly right.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or, much more simply, Trump didn't want to make Putin mad.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

So then why did Somalia or Burkina Faso not make the list? Does Putin care about them? Not really.

Occam's razor here is pretty easy to see as "Sanctioned counties, and we missed two."

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

That wasn't a comprehensive list, just 2 off the jump.

So no, the simpler answer is that sanctions simply aren't a factor. They didn't list every country on the planet.

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, whatever you need to believe with no evidence to support it. At least a 80% correlation with the sanctions list mes a touch of sense.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Claiming that Trump is constantly kissing Putin's ass isn't a conspiracy. It's not even a secret...

Sure, whatever you need to believe with no evidence to support it

So where's your evidence that the list of countries was generated by AI?

[–] hansolo@lemm.ee 0 points 55 minutes ago (1 children)

There's a pretty comprehensive article on The Verge outlining the likelihood of it bring probable.

[–] null@slrpnk.net 1 points 50 minutes ago

No there isn't.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

Why? Isn't that the easiest lowest hanging fruit possible?