Bessent said the United States doesn’t trade with Russia or Belarus because they are sanctioned.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, however, found in 2024 that the United States’ total goods trade with Russia was an estimated $3.5 billion.
U.S. goods exports to Russia in 2024 were $526.1 million, down 12.3 percent from 2023 and U.S. goods imports from Russia totaled $3.0 billion in 2024, down 34.2 percent from 2023, according to the government agency.
The White House announced that the 10% baseline tariff will go into effect on Saturday and the individual, reciprocal tariffs will go into effect on April 9.
“These tariffs will remain in effect until such a time as President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated,” read a release from the Trump administration in part.
Bessent told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that the goal of the tariffs is to set the stage for long-term economic growth.
“We are putting ourselves back onto a sound trajectory,” he said, hitting the Biden administration for “gigantic” government spending.
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