Senators Say They Have Deal With Trump on Russia Sanctions Bill
(Bloomberg) -- A bipartisan group of senators said they have an agreement with the Trump administration to move ahead with new Russian sanctions legislation, raising the prospect of more US economic pressure on the Kremlin to halt its war in Ukraine.
“We are proud to announce that we have reached an agreement with the Trump Administration to move our updated Russia sanctions legislation forward,” Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, joined by Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, said in a statement Friday.
“We are very pleased with this significant progress and expect to roll out the legislation very soon,” they added.
Text of the legislation was not immediately available and it is unclear what changes the new measure would incorporate from previous drafts.
“As Russia intensifies its slaughter of civilians, it is imperative that the legislative and executive branches work together to create tools to exact a heavy price on those who buy Russian oil and natural gas, fueling the Putin war machine,” the senators said.
The White House has sought changes in previous drafts to give the president more leeway to refrain from imposing sanctions.
Graham, who has long pushed for tougher sanctions, met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier Friday in Kyiv. The senator has claimed Trump’s backing to advance sanctions legislation before, saying in January that Trump had “greenlit” such a bill, only to see momentum stall.
Graham’s bill was initially proposed in April last year, when the senator called for “bone-crushing” sanctions on Russia. That version of the measure would have authorized Trump to impose so-called secondary tariffs as high as 500% on countries that bought Russian energy.
That bill has yet to receive a vote in the Senate despite broad bipartisan support due to White House opposition. Last month the House passed an Ukraine aid bill with new Russian oil and gas sanctions over the objections of GOP leaders.
Trump has previously shown reluctance to take any steps against Russian President Vladimir Putin that would upset diplomatic efforts to secure a peace deal. Trump campaigned on a pledge to end the war on his first day in office but has since acknowledged that is a more challenging task.
This year, after the US and Israeli attack on Iran shut down energy flows from the Persian Gulf and triggered a global squeeze on oil markets, the Trump administration granted a series of temporary sanctions waivers for Russian sales. Those expired last month.
The new momentum for sanctions comes as Ukraine’s European allies are seeking to encourage Trump to refocus his attention on Russia’s war, now well into its fifth year. Trump spoke with both Putin and Zelenskyy last weekend and met with the Ukrainian president again this week on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey.
Trump has taken steps against buyers of Russian oil in the past. Last year, he imposed a 25% tariff on Indian goods over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy. He later removed that levy to help cement a trade deal between the US and India. Other major purchasers such as China, however, avoided similar penalties.
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