A US official has said US President Donald Trump decided not to slap tariffs on Russian imports owing to the risk of upsetting ongoing talks on a possible ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
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The director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, told television channel ABC on Sunday it would have been inappropriate “to throw a new thing into these negotiations right in the middle of it”.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett speaks to reporters at the White House last month. Photo: AP
Russia was notably absent from Trump’s sweeping punitive tariffs announced on nearly all countries around the world – including Ukraine – last week.
Hassett said this did not mean that Russia was being treated completely differently from other countries, and said Trump was merely focusing on talks with Russia to end the war against Ukraine.
In an initial explanation after the tariffs were announced, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that Russia had not been included because US sanctions already exclude any significant trade.
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Trump says Zelensky ready to negotiate to end war with Russia
Trump says Zelensky ready to negotiate to end war with Russia
Trade between Russia and the US did indeed shrink sharply compared to the period before the invasion of Ukraine, according to data from the US Census Bureau.
