GOP freezes Senate’s blow to Putin’s oil empire
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is holding off on advancing a package of sanctions targeting Russia and its oil and gas buyers, Politico reported on July 14 after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a threat to impose 100% tariffs on goods from countries that trade with Moscow.
Thune suggested that Trump’s threat meant that the Senate would no longer need to pass the bill crafted by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
“It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,” Thune told reporters.
“If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go.”
The bill, which has 85 Senate co-sponsors, would authorize Trump to impose secondary tariffs of at least 500% on imported goods from China, Brazil, India, and other countries that still trade with Russia.
It would also authorize Trump to raise tariffs on remaining U.S. imports from Russia.
In a joint statement, Graham and Blumenthal praised both Trump’s tariff threat and his plan to sell American weapons to NATO for Ukraine to use.
“However, the ultimate hammer to bring about the end of this war will be tariffs against countries, like China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin’s war machine by purchasing cheap Russian oil and gas,” the senators said, adding that “the goal is not more tariffs and sanctions — the goal is to entice Putin to come to the peace table.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise believes that unilateral action from Trump could preempt a standalone sanctions bill altogether.
“If anybody’s going to be able to get Putin to the table to finally agree to peace, it’s President Trump,” he said.
On July 14 Trump said that the United States would impose a 100% tariff on goods from countries that trade with Russia, unless a ceasefire in the Russo–Ukrainian war is reached within 50 days.
He also pledged to sell Patriot missiles, air defense systems, and artillery shells to NATO countries, which would then provide them to Ukraine. The $10 billion military assistance package may also include long-range ATACMS guided missiles, along with permission to use them at their full range of 300 kilometers, striking military bases, airfields, and supply depots deep inside Russia that are currently out of range.
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