A bill to tighten sanctions on Russia has been rewritten to authorize the president to impose tariffs on other countries at any rate up to 5
The Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill to tighten sanctions on Russia and force it to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, has been stuck in limbo for months as President Trump has withheld his support. To secure Trump’s blessing, the bill’s authors have now rewritten it to give the president broad authority to impose tariffs of up to 500 percent on all imports from dozens of countries that purchase Russian energy.[...]
The European Union is the top importer of Russian natural gas, whereas China, India, and Turkey are the largest buyers of Russian crude oil and oil products. Other U.S. allies, such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil, would also be eligible for the 500 percent tariffs.[...]
Introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R., South Carolina) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Connecticut), the legislation attracted over 80 cosponsors in the Senate but faced resistance from Trump, who pushed for greater flexibility. On Tuesday, Senator Graham said that Trump now supported the bill after he and Senator Blumenthal tweaked it “to provide expanded presidential waiver authority,” according to Politico.[...]
Graham revealed that the updated text of the bill went further to give the president expansive authority to levy tariffs on all imports from eligible countries at any rate up to 500 percent.[...]
“He could do one percent, or he could do 499.” The previous floor of 500 percent would no longer be the minimum tariff rate that Trump could impose, but “the ceiling.”[...]
This change sought by the White House comes just as the legal foundation of Trump’s existing tariffs on numerous countries, the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), faces a serious challenge. In May, the Court of International Trade ruled that IEEPA did not grant the president the “unlimited tariff authority” that Trump claimed it did, thereby striking down both his “liberation day” tariffs and others he had imposed earlier in his term on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China.
The Trump administration immediately appealed the decision [...] If Trump ultimately loses his appeal at the Federal Circuit, his IEEPA-based tariffs could be struck down permanently. In that event, the updated Sanctioning Russia Act might provide Trump with a new legal justification for many of his tariffs.[...]
Blumenthal named India and China as two countries that would be targeted by the secondary tariffs of 500 percent if they continued to purchase Russian energy. Those tariffs would not apply to U.S. allies in Europe that rely on Russian gas, he said, as the bill’s updated text would provide “waiver authority” for countries that supply assistance to Ukraine. “Any country that is currently supporting Ukraine, either militarily or economically, is in a different class or category than India or China, who are essentially supporting Putin’s war machine.”
9 July 25
The Senate has passed a punishing Russian sanctions bill that was a top priority for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
7 Aug 26
