The Trump administration says sanctions imposed on Moscow mean the U.S. does little trade with Russia, but questions persist about the motivations.

Russia was notably absent from the sweeping tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, which are set to affect almost the entire world. The White House said sanctions imposed on Moscow because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had already ensured that there was no meaningful trade between the countries.

That changed Wednesday afternoon when Trump introduced his tariff charts outlining a roughly 10 percent across-the-board tax on imports from most countries, with the numbers stretching up to 50 percent.

Trump promised tariffs that would mirror what other nations assess. In fact, the calculation is quite different.

President Trump's sweeping new set of tariffs impact friends and foe alike, but also on the list are uninhabited islands while glaring omissions include Russia and Iran.

The U.S. already imposes heavy sanctions on Russia but still did approximately $3.5 billion in trade last year

One country missing from President Trump’s new tariff list, despite running a trade surplus with the U.S. of $2.5 billion: Russia. The country was left off of a list of dozens that have much smaller trade imbalances with America,

After arrival, the Kyiv-born and US-educated envoy said that unnamed forces were trying to stir tension between Washington and MoscowMeanwhile, Russian military bloggers have claimed that hundreds of Ukrainian troops have sought shelter from Moscow’s advancing forces in a Kursk monastery.