The new sanctions legislation against Russia, driven by the late Senator Lindsey Graham and supported by President Donald Trump, would target the five largest purchasers of Russian crude oil and natural gas, including China and India.
Negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators, the measure would grant the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on those countries.
The aim is to increase economic pressure on Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year and blamed for the deaths of roughly two million soldiers and causing nearly $200 billion in damage in Kyiv.
If Trump were to apply these tariffs, they would also risk destabilizing already volatile U.S. trade relations with China and India.
The United States and China reached a trade truce that expires in November. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet in Washington in September, and U.S. access to critical minerals from China will be a central item on the agenda. China has repeatedly used those minerals as leverage in trade disputes with Trump.
Proponents of the bill say they have enough support for passage in the Senate after securing the president’s backing, a Senate aide said, though the schedule for a floor vote remains unclear.
Advocates of a tougher foreign policy, led by Graham, have pushed various versions of the sanctions legislation over the past year to try to cut off Russia’s main revenue streams, but they have struggled to obtain consistent White House support.
Graham and other backers reached an agreement with the White House last week. The bill was negotiated in high-level talks involving Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Graham and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, according to a Senate aide.
“This is in honor of Lindsey. It was his priority. He wanted it more than anything,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Trump added that the bill could include Iran. “They are going to include Iran, which is very important,” he said. “If they did that, they could also include Hezbollah,” Trump added.
The bill contains an exemption for countries that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia, allowing some allies that are among Russia’s top oil importers, such as France and Japan, to be excluded, a Senate aide said.
It also creates a new authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the five leading countries that facilitate evasion of Russian oil sanctions. Other provisions target Russia’s so‐called shadow fleet and Chinese support for the Kremlin’s defense industrial base.
Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday that he had just spoken by phone with Trump about a “serious effort” among lawmakers to advance the bill.
“I don’t speak for him, but I think he is on board with the agreement,” Kennedy said.
Bloomberg