Sanctions Lifted: The US Removes Economic Pressure On Russia
Decades of hawkish foreign policies from the late Senator Lindsey Graham was undermined by President Trump earlier this week. His sudden death earlier this year prompted bi-partisan support for the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026” bill that was passed in September. It is a senate bill that had increasing support for over a year after intense negotiations over specific language and waivers. It appears that some of those negotiated concessions have come to bite them on the ass.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, economic sanctions were deployed to avoid military confrontations between Russia and NATO countries. This is a common tactic of economic warfare to starve a nation state of monetary resources with the goal that they will not be able to fund their military actions. The difficulty is that it is time consuming and requires participation from other private and public sectors. European nations have pursued a strategic transition away from Russian energy sources while implementing comprehensive sanction packages intended to exert significant geoeconomical influence, but the pace of economic penalties can take years to deliver visible results.
Momentum for sanctions typically arises from coordinated international cooperation and active engagement with the private sector. The Lindsay Graham bill is important in that aspect for several reasons. First, the United States is an economic powerhouse that is significant for economic sanctions. In this bill, the “centerpiece of the measure would target countries that continue to buy significant amounts of Russian oil and gas. It would give the president the authority to impose 100 percent tariffs on the top five importers of Russian energy.” Targeting countries that purchase Russian energy exports does have some downside effects as two of the top importers are not countries the Trump Administration would not like to provoke. India serves as a strategic ally and significant trade partner of the United States, whereas China is a geopolitical competitor currently engaged in its own tariff dispute. To alleviate tensions with allies and competitors, Congress included presidential powers to issue waivers to countries, officials and businesses if it is “in the national interest of the United States.” Clearly the goal in this language was to soothe allies, but the last week has shown otherwise.
On 16 October, the Trump White House issued an Executive Order two days before the Graham Act would implement the sanctions against Russia. Why? Two possible reasons: Trump likes Putin (we won’t go down that road today) or the Midterm Elections are not going very well for the Republican Party. The second reason is the most likely as energy prices have skyrocketed in the United States and conservative voters are extremely unhappy. Diesel fuel is the lifeblood of transportation and agricultural sectors the US and with prices hitting over $5.00 per gallon, this is a significant economic shock to US voters. To ease the pressure of diesel supplies, Trump struck a deal with Putin for over 800,000 tonnes of diesel with a possibility of more in the future. If you are sanctioning Russia’s energy exports, would the US have to pay tariff? Not anymore since the Executive Order has now waived Russia from being sanctioned. This is a tough setback for Ukraine and its European friends as it shifts support in a way that could send more resources to Russia, which is exactly what sanctions were meant to avoid. After all the work Lindsey Graham put into backing Trump, it’s hard not to imagine him rolling in his grave to see all of his efforts undercut like this.
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