Trump Waives the Graham Act Russia Sanctions Two Days Before They Were Due
Trump waived the Graham Act’s Russia tariffs and sanctions two days before they applied, a week after the diesel deal. What was said, and by whom.
In this article
Context
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, 16 October that waives the duties and sanctions the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 was due to impose on 18 October. The order says: “the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.”
The waiver follows a diesel deal Trump announced with Vladimir Putin a week earlier. A dozen senators, former Vice President Mike Pence and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have since criticised that deal, as has Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rome it was none of its business. Earlier coverage of the deal is in our piece on the senators and the Kremlin, and the Russian diesel topic page collects the rest.
Key takeaways
The order says it waives the Act’s new tariffs and most of its sanctions, and that sanctions from earlier executive orders stay. The waivers last until “further action is appropriate”, in the order’s words. Iran International quoted the senators’ letter of 13 October, and the waiver came three days later.
Analysis
What the order says
The order states that the Act was signed on 18 September. Its Section 2, the order says, sets a 500 percent duty on goods from Russia. It sets 100 percent on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas that make new purchases on or after 18 October, and 100 percent on the five top facilitators of sanctions evasion.
Section 4, according to the text, then waives the duties in the Act’s sections 112 and 113 and the order’s own duties. It also waives sanctions under sections 102(a), 102(d), 102(e), 103 to 111 and 117. The order says sanctions under existing Russia executive orders are not affected. Fox Business reported that the White House gave no further explanation and that Trump kept the ability to reinstate the tariffs.
Analysis
How the week unfolded
On 9 October Trump announced the diesel deal after a call with Putin. His post promised more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel immediately, 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter”, the Boston Globe reported. Leaving the White House for a rally, Trump said: “I want to thank President Putin.” The Globe added that Treasury issued a licence under which US sanctions will not apply to Russian diesel loaded on tankers until April 2027.
Zelensky told Axios the same day that the deal was “not fair and not honest”. Pence wrote on X on 11 October that it “makes no sense and is a betrayal of the legacy and leadership of the late Senator Lindsey Graham”, and urged Trump to rescind it, Fox 2 Detroit reported. Graham died in July, Fox Business noted.
On Tuesday 13 October a dozen senators, including Republicans Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis and Susan Collins, wrote to Trump. Iran International quoted the letter: “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
On Wednesday 14 October Meloni told the Italian parliament the deal was “a very risky choice”. She called it “a legitimisation for Moscow while its bombs are still falling on Ukrainian cities” and an “implicit weakening of the sanctions lever”, Euronews reported. Zakharova told Italian media: “It is none of her business.”
After the order, Representative Don Beyer wrote on X that it was “Trump’s latest surrender to Putin” that “again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent”. Republican Representative Don Bacon said: “The President is prolonging the war, not ending it.” Governor Gavin Newsom’s office posted: “OK. Someone has to be getting paid by Putin. Who? And how much?” Tribune India collected all three.
Analysis
What is the Graham Act?
The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 is named for the Republican senator who championed it. According to the order, its tariff provisions reach Russia and the five largest buyers of its oil and gas. Fox Business reported that the Act lets the president waive its measures by certifying to Congress that doing so serves the national interest. The order’s Section 4 uses that certification.
How the statements connect
On 13 October the senators wrote asking Trump to rescind the diesel deal. On 16 October, the order says, he waived the Act’s sanctions. The first tariffs were due on 18 October, per the order.
Fox Business set the order beside Trump’s remarks of the week before, when he said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president” and warned Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil refineries. Zelensky told Axios the diesel arrangement was unfair, and Trump, the Globe reported, thanked Putin.
Named analysts doubt the price argument. Clayton Seigle of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Globe: “What does this do to prices? I think probably not much.” Michael Lynch of the Energy Policy Research Foundation said in the same report: “It’s kind of shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Meloni told parliament the fuel surge came from the Iran war, according to Euronews, while Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on refineries. Her stated cost of the deal is the “implicit weakening of the sanctions lever”.
What to watch
The 18 October date passes with no new tariffs, the order says. The Treasury licence runs to April 2027, the Globe reported. Trump’s post promised 500,000 tons in November, and that delivery will show whether Moscow follows through.
Congress is the other test. Twelve senators, among them McConnell, Tillis and Collins, signed a letter calling the deal a betrayal. Bacon, a Republican, said the president is prolonging the war. Bacon’s words came after the order, Tribune India reported.
The order says the waivers stay until the president or the secretary of state determines that “further action is appropriate”. It sets no date for that decision.
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