Russia and North Korea were excluded from Trump's tariff list as neither country engages in meaningful trade relations with the United States.

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.

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.