Russia escapes Trump Tariffs, as envoy pushes deals with Washington

MOSCOW — As world governments and markets reel from steep new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, there was one major economy notably missing from the White House list — namely, Russia.

It is already the target of massive Western sanctions on the financial, energy and defense sectors. Oligarchs and hundreds of high-ranking officials with Kremlin ties have also been slapped with sanctions. Tariffs on Russia, therefore, would have taken the country's economic challenges to the next level.

But that didn't happen.

A visit by a senior Kremlin envoy to the White House this week may provide some clues.

Enter Kirill Dmitriev, a Stanford-educated former Goldman Sachs investment banker, and CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who happens to still be formally under US sanctions imposed by the Biden administration.

SERGEI GUNEYEV/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images / AFP

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Dmitriev is expected to meet with his White House counterpart, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff this week. The two had engaged in negotiations that eventually led to Russia's release of American school teacher Marc Fogel last February, in a move widely interpreted as a Kremlin gesture to improve relations with the new Trump administration.

Dmitriev arrived in Washington on Wednesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special envoy for international economic cooperation," a role Dmitriev was appointed to amid last month's closely watched US-Russian negotiations in Saudi Arabia.

And that's how tariffs for Russia could come into being in the near future: because after weeks of U.S.-Russian negotiations failed to yield progress on White House proposals for a ceasefire, Trump has shown signs of growing frustration with Moscow.

In a recent interview, Trump said he was "very angry" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He threatened massive tariffs and secondary sanctions on Russian oil exports if no peace deal on Ukraine was forthcoming.

In response, the Kremlin has sought to reduce tensions.

This week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reassured media that Putin "remains open" to a diplomatic settlement in Ukraine and stressed Moscow remained committed to "working with the U.S. side, first of all, on building our relations."

That's the job Dmitriev appears to have been tasked with.

And the former banker hasn't come empty-handed to Washington. In recent weeks, he has suggested that the U.S. and Russia could work together and prosper from joint ventures in mineral extraction, Arctic development, and Mars exploration, among other ideas.

Separately, Russia's premier international business forum announced this summer's annual event would highlight opportunities for American business investment.

Even as U.S.-Russian negotiations over Ukraine have stumbled, Dmitriev has been a relentlessly optimistic cheerleader for a post-sanctions, and tariff-free future between Moscow and Washington.

Whatever your politics—dialogue between the U.S. and Russia matters," wrote Dmitriev on X before he arrived in the U.S. "It's about building a more secure, more prosperous world for everyone."

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