Trump Waives New Russia Sanctions Before Tariff Deadline, Citing National Interest

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday putting on hold most of the sweeping new Russia sanctions package that Congress passed with bipartisan majorities and that he himself signed into law last month, telling lawmakers the pause was in the national interest.

The order, titled "Implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026," was issued two days before the law's implementation deadline and waives the application of most of its sanctions provisions and duties, subject to a written certification and explanatory report submitted to Congress.

What was waived

The Graham Act, signed on September 18, had provided for sanctions on foreign persons and restrictions tied to Russia's financial system, along with duties on goods. Among the most consequential elements was a tariff regime the White House order had earlier set out: a 500 per cent duty on Russian goods, plus 100 per cent duties on the largest five importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas if they made new purchases on or after October 18, and 100 per cent duties on the top five facilitators of sanctions evasion.

The order waives those duties along with most of the act's sanctions sections, while explicitly preserving measures imposed under earlier executive orders addressing Russian activities, including all persons sanctioned under those orders. The waivers remain in effect until the president or the secretary of state, in consultation with treasury and trade officials, determine that further action is appropriate.

Timing that drew fury

The decision came just over a week after Trump announced that the United States had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia in an effort to bring down global energy prices, a disclosure that had already unsettled Ukraine's allies. Congressional Democrats condemned the waiver: Senator Richard Blumenthal said it had "nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin," and Representative Don Beyer called for Congress to revisit the law.

The legislation itself was named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July after advocating tougher sanctions to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine. Colleagues advanced the bill in tribute, making Trump's Friday reversal all the more striking on Capitol Hill, where midterm elections on November 3 have sharpened political tensions.

Why markets care

For oil markets, the waiver removes the immediate threat of tariffs on the five largest buyers of Russian crude, an action that traders had priced in part as a risk to global supply flows and freight patterns. The decision, combined with the continued war in the Gulf, keeps the market's attention on physical barrels: diesel availability, insurance costs and the price of crude as it approaches $110.

Currency and trade negotiators in import-dependent economies will also note that the earlier sanctions architecture remains intact, meaning the landscape for companies doing business with Russia changes less than the headline suggests.

What remains

The administration did not immediately explain in detail how pausing the package served the national interest beyond the certification submitted to Congress, and critics noted the absence of a public rationale. What is clear is that the most punitive tools in the new law are now dormant, revocable, and subject to the same geopolitical bargaining that produced them.