(The Hill) — The White House on Thursday defended its decision to not include Russia, North Korea, Cuba or Belarus in the latest round of tariffs, which targeted dozens of global trading partners that were labeled the “worst offenders” when it came to trade barriers.

A White House official told The Hill in a statement that the four nations “are not subject to the Reciprocal Tariff Executive Order because they are already facing extremely high tariffs, and our previously imposed sanctions preclude any meaningful trade with these countries.”

The official added that President Donald Trump has “recently threatened to impose strong sanctions on Russia” to further explain leaving out Moscow.

Trump on Wednesday imposed a 10 percent baseline tax on goods being imported into the U.S. But some countries were targeted with even higher reciprocal tariffs, including China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and the European Union.

China will face the highest reciprocal tariffs after the president announced a 34 percent tariff on Wednesday that will be included on top of a previously implemented 20 percent for a total 54 percent tariff on goods.

Other high reciprocal numbers include 46 percent on Vietnam, 32 percent on Taiwan, 32 percent on Indonesia and 49 percent on Cambodia.

Trump said last month that he is weighing additional sanctions and tariffs on Russia as a way to bring them to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine. Russia said weeks later that it expects the U.S. to ease certain sanctions as part of an agreement for a limited ceasefire with Ukraine.