Trump signs sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia's energy sector

President Trump signed into law a sweeping sanctions package on Friday that reshapes the economic pressure on Russia by targeting the countries that buy its oil and gas. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives earlier in the week, grants Trump authority to impose tariffs as high as 100 percent on the world's five largest purchasers of Russian crude and natural gas—a list dominated by China and India, which together account for roughly 87 percent of Russia's energy exports.

The legislation is formally named the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, honoring the late South Carolina senator who died on July 11 from an aortic dissection. Graham, 71, had been one of the most vocal Republican voices pushing the Trump administration to escalate economic punishment against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He had traveled to Kyiv shortly before his death, continuing advocacy work that defined much of his final years in office. Trump, at the time of Graham's passing, said he "died doing the work he was born to do."

Beyond the tariff authority on energy purchasers, the bill casts a wide net. It authorizes sanctions against Vladimir Putin himself, senior Russian government officials, Russian banks and financial institutions, and what officials call Russia's "shadow fleet"—a network of aging tankers used to move oil around the world while evading existing restrictions. The legislation also extends similar pressure to Iran's energy and weapons sectors. The 48-page text includes a carve-out for countries importing less than 15 percent of their natural gas from Russia and demonstrating efforts to reduce that dependency, a provision that could affect some European nations.

Data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air shows the scale of the economic leverage at stake. Between December 2022 and August 2026, China purchased half of all Russian crude exports, while India accounted for 37 percent. Turkey and the European Union each took roughly 5 percent, though EU purchases have been declining. The ability to threaten 100 percent tariffs on these flows represents a significant escalation in the economic war against Moscow's revenue streams.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, had previously characterized the measure as "scorching sanctions" designed to "throttle Putin's war machine." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his support, noting the timing of the House passage on September 17—the same night Russia launched another barrage of ballistic missiles, other missiles, and drones at Ukrainian targets. "It is symbolic," Zelensky wrote on Telegram, that lawmakers moved to tighten the economic noose even as the military assault continued.

Graham's death left a void in the Republican caucus at a moment of deep party division over Ukraine aid and American military involvement abroad. His long push for tougher sanctions on Russia reflected a conviction that economic pressure could constrain Moscow's capacity to wage war. The bill bearing his name now gives Trump the tools to act on that theory, though how aggressively he deploys them—particularly against China and India, both economically significant partners—remains an open question.