Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act into law on Friday, creating sweeping new sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war with Ukraine. The law also allows the president to impose additional tariffs on countries that continue buying Russian energy or help Moscow evade sanctions.
The House of Representatives passed the legislation 262-159 in a bipartisan vote two days before Trump signed it. The act is named after Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July.
What the law targets
The legislation targets Russian political and military officials, foreign networks that help supply Russia’s war machine and networks accused of evading existing sanctions. It also targets Russia’s fleet of “shadow tankers”, which has enabled continued crude shipments despite existing restrictions on Russian energy exports.
The measure is designed to reduce Russia’s ability to fund the war by targeting revenue from natural gas and oil, as well as countries that continue to buy Russian energy.
Trump’s authority and the criticism
The law gives Trump broad discretion over how its provisions are implemented. He can decide which countries face tariffs, set the tariff rates and waive sanctions provisions for certain countries. Read the context: Zelenskyy and Trump to Discuss Sanctions as Conflicts in Ukraine and Iran Intersect.
The legislation permits tariffs of up to 100% on buyers of Russian energy, including China, and on countries that help Moscow evade sanctions. Many Democrats criticized that authority, arguing that it gives Trump excessive power to use tariffs. The criticism comes after Trump imposed tariffs on multiple countries despite a US supreme court ruling barring him from doing so under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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