The U.S. did not include Russia on its "Liberation Day" tariff list as the existing sanctions "preclude any meaningful trade," Axios reported on April 3, citing White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

The absence of Russia on the president’s new list of countries that he’ll hit with steep tariffs did not go unnoticed on social media. Critics were quick to accuse Trump of kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump has for years expressed his admiration of.

The Kremlin was among a handful of countries noticeably exempt from Trump’s decision to slap a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the US, as well as higher duties on some of its biggest