section_path: Trade conflicts by country/Europe/Russia and Belarus
section_name: Russia and Belarus
paragraph_text: Russia and Belarus
  
  Russia joined the World Trade Organization in 2012, requiring all other members to grant it most favored nation (MFN) tariff rates. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the G7 countries and their allies moved to revoke MFN status from Russia and block Belarus from joining the WTO. After the United States congress voted to sever normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, the countries became subject to "Column 2" rates in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Column 2 rates, as created by the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, are significantly higher than normal and average about 20% overall. President Joe Biden further increased rates on a variety of Russian goods in February 2023. Russia added the US to their " unfriendly countries list " in 2021 and imposed countersanctions in response to US measures.
  
  Trump did not include Russia or Belarus in his "reciprocal tariff" policy announced April 2, 2025. The White House explained that existing sanctions on the country had "already rendered trade between the two countries as zero." US trade with Russia in 2024 was estimated at $3.5 billion, a tenth of the $35 billion from 2021 before it invaded Ukraine. In an interview with Izvestia on April 9, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk reiterated that that Russia had no significant trade with the US.
  
  Trump threatened "secondary sanctions" on imports from countries buying Russian oil, saying, "That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can't do business in the United States. There will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil."
  
  On April 1, 2025, Senator Lindsey Graham introduced S. 1241, the Sanctioning Russia Act, a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to impose comprehensive sanctions and trade restrictions on the Russian Federation if it refuses to negotiate peace with Ukraine, violates a peace agreement, or launches a new military invasion. The bill mandates sanctions on Russian officials, financial institutions, state-affiliated entities, and energy sectors; bans U.S. investments in Russia; blocks Russian access to U.S. markets and financial systems; imposes tariffs of at least 500% on Russian imports and a "secondary tariff" of 500% on countries importing Russian oil, gas, or uranium. The bill also includes provisions for cutting off Russian entities from international financial messaging services and prohibits uranium imports from Russia.