The US president has invoked a national-interest exemption to suspend sweeping penalties under the Lindsey Graham bill.
US President Donald Trump has suspended sweeping new sanctions against Russia that he signed into law just a month ago, invoking a national-interest exemption to waive penalties targeting Moscow’s economy and countries purchasing Russian energy.
In an executive order issued on Friday, Trump waived sanctions and tariffs mandated by the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, including proposed 500% tariffs on imports from Russia and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
“I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver is in the national interests of the United States and a report explaining the basis for the certification,” Trump wrote.
China and India, the two largest buyers of Russian crude oil, were expected to be among the countries hardest hit by the legislation.
The bill, championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, has been described by supporters as a “bone-crushing” measure aimed at driving Russian energy exports out of the global market. Hawkish US lawmakers argued that existing restrictions had allowed Moscow to circumvent economic pressure.
Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month in an effort to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. The move sparked outrage in Ukraine and among America’s European allies, prompting a bipartisan group of US senators to accuse Trump of betraying Kiev.
According to US media reports, Trump decided to ease sanctions after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky refused to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, which Trump blamed for high energy prices.
On Friday, US Representative Gregory Meeks introduced a bill in Congress seeking to block the diesel agreement with Russia. The Democrat accused Trump of “cozying up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and striking self-enriching deals instead of standing with Ukraine.”
Trump has defended the agreement as beneficial to American consumers and consistent with his “America First” agenda. In response to the backlash, he attacked Zelensky as “not a good guy for us to deal with” and suggested that Ukraine needed “a new president.”
Russia has maintained that it has adapted to mounting Western economic pressure, while describing the Graham bill as a hostile move that would undermine Trump’s efforts to broker peace between Moscow and Kiev.
“[Russian] diesel has begun reaching global markets, and it will have a certain positive effect on stabilizing oil markets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy and a negotiator on Ukraine, hailed the waiver as “an important and historic moment.” Economic cooperation serves the interests of both countries, “contributes to global economic stability, and lays the foundation for building trust and achieving lasting peace,” he wrote on X.
Image credit: Getty Images
Sanctions do more to harm allies than their intended recipients
All part of the strategy targeting the de industrialization of Europe and UK
In making Europe dependent on US oil and gas
Backed up by the treasonous attack and plotted destruction of Nord Stream
Explosions damaged three of the four pipe sections across the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines
Specifically, both lines of Nord Stream 1 (Pipe A and Pipe B) and one line of Nord Stream 2 (Pipe A) were rendered inoperable, while the second line of Nord Stream 2 (Pipe B) remained undamaged
This may prove to be an umbilical life line to the beleaguered Germany economy deliberately harmed with a turnaround heralded by the election of an AFD Alice Weidel led government which by all accounts remains possible and feasible
It would’ve been helpful if this decision was made a couple of years ago.
Hard to believe Vladimir Zelensky receives aid from the west including weapons to destroy Russian oil infrastructure. What outcome was he thinking? Hopefully Zelensky will be replaced or eliminated. Preferably the latter.
Iran now will have to cap off its oil wells as storage capacity reaches its maximum. Europes plans to expand NATO weapons of mass destruction into Ukraine should now be reviewed.
TACO = Trump always chickens out