Russia left off because there was no meaningful trade with it, while Cuba, Belarus and North Korea were already heavily sanctioned.

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.

While U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on allies and foes including Europe, India, Japan and China, some of the world's most heavily sanctioned countries - Russia, Belarus, Cuba and North Korea - avoided being singled out for special punitive treatment.