Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: US lawmakers have unveiled a revised version of the Russia sanctions bill, the bipartisan bill first introduced by late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, easing the original 500 per cent tariff proposal for nations importing Russian energy, including India and China. The measure, if implemented, would now grant US President Donald Trump the authority to hit the countries with tariff rates up to 100 per cent, according to a Reuters report.
The bill seeks to impose sanctions on Russian officials and to use tariffs to pressure China and India to reduce their dependence on Russia as an energy supplier. US lawmakers believe that sanctions would ramp up economic pressure on Moscow to end its four-year-long invasion of Ukraine, which has killed roughly 2 million military troops and devastated Kyiv with nearly $200 billion in damage.
China, India, Slovakia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan are the top five purchasers of Russian crude, while China, France, Japan, Hungary, and Belgium are the top importers of Russian natural gas. If Trump imposed the levies, it also would threaten to shake the already volatile US trade relationships with China and India.
The new version
The new version of the bill reduces tariffs that could be imposed on third-party buyers of Russian oil and natural gas to a maximum of 100 per cent for the top five purchasers, down from the previous proposal’s blanket 500 per cent.
The updated version also allows an exception for countries that import less than 15 per cent of Russia’s natural gas exports and are taking significant steps to reduce those imports, which could exempt Japan, France, Hungary, and Belgium.
The measure also imposes sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers that do not depend on Western maritime services, on Russian financial institutions, including the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and on Russia’s largest state-owned energy projects, including Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 1, 2 and 3.
In addition, the new version includes a provision that allows Trump to waive the sanctions if he deems it in the US national interest to do so.
Lindsey Graham’s tariff push
Senator Graham, who died recently, had announced during his trip to Ukraine just a day earlier that he had reached an agreement with President Trump to move forward with the Russia sanctions bill, more than a year after it was introduced.
Senate aides said there were 26 co-sponsors for the bill, and they expected more within several hours, expressing optimism about its chances of passage. “We’re pretty confident on its path,” one aide said.
The bill is changed from the original version introduced by Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, in April 2025.
Why US softened the bill
A Senate aide told news agency Reuters that some of the provisions from the original bill were softened after months of negotiations that had gone into getting a deal with Trump.
“This is the only product that has buy-in from everybody and is likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we would all like to get,” the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
The bill may become law
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters at the White House that sanctions on Iran and Hezbollah might be added to the bill, saying it would be a “very big thing” if those measures were added.
The President also expressed optimism that the bill would pass and become law.
“This is in honour of Lindsey. This was his thing. He wanted this more than anything. You know how he felt, and there’s a good chance that it gets done,” Trump said.
Blumenthal, who first introduced the bill, however, expressed caution about adding new targets in the bill. “With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it, in my view, to other potential targets,” the Democrat told reporters.
Asked about Trump’s comment, a second Senate aide told Reuters the bill exposes countries such as Iran that work with the Russian defence industrial base to sanctions and tariffs.
