Russian Rouble Dips to 100 to Dollar as Trump Declares Election Win

The US Embassy with a US national flag, seen behind a building with a Russian national flag in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The US Embassy with a US national flag, seen behind a building with a Russian national flag in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
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Russian Rouble Dips to 100 to Dollar as Trump Declares Election Win

The US Embassy with a US national flag, seen behind a building with a Russian national flag in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The US Embassy with a US national flag, seen behind a building with a Russian national flag in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The Russian rouble briefly weakened to 100 against the dollar on Wednesday as Donald Trump claimed victory in the US presidential election, a result that could push the U.S. currency higher.
Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest after Fox News projected that he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
By 0737 GMT, the rouble was 0.2% weaker against the dollar at 98.00, earlier touching 100.25, close to its weakest point in over a year, Reuters reported.
The rouble was steady against the yuan at 13.73, according to LSEG data, and gained 1.2% to 105.6 against the euro.
Analysts generally assume Trump's plans for restricted immigration, tax cuts and sweeping tariffs if enacted would put more upward pressure on inflation and bond yields, than Harris' center-left policies.
Trump's proposals would also tend to push up the dollar and potentially limit how far US interest rates might ultimately be lowered. Trump has also criticized the level of US military support for Ukraine and has pledged to end the conflict soon.
Western sanctions imposed on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and its clearing agent, the National Clearing Center, on June 12 stopped all trade in dollars and euros at MOEX, making the yuan the most-traded foreign currency in Russia.
Trade in dollars and euros has shifted to the over-the-counter (OTC) market, obscuring price data.
One-day rouble-dollar futures, which trade on the Moscow exchange are a guide for OTC market rates. The central bank's official exchange rate, which it calculates using OTC data, was last set at 98.06 to the dollar.



Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.