• Issues waiver days before penalties due; executive order cites national interests
• Zelensky says move ‘emboldens’ Putin; Kremlin envoy hails ‘historic moment’
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Saturday waived key Russia-related US sanctions and tariffs days before they were due to take effect under a law he signed last month, including duties on Russian goods and penalties for buying the country’s oil and gas.
Trump signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 in mid-September. The law is meant to increase pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, but it lets the president waive sanctions simply by informing Congress that they are not in the national interest.
The executive order, released by the White House on Friday, said the waiver will remain in effect until Trump or his top officials determine that “further action is appropriate”.
“I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States,” Trump said in the order.
The legislation, whose primary backer in Congress was the late Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, would have imposed tariffs of up to 100 per cent within 30 days on all goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, as well as any country that knowingly bought Russian oil or gas 30 days after the law was enacted or was among the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a message on X on Saturday that the move emboldens Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“A US sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor, financial rewards for Putin, all of this only encourages him to keep attacking. We must not give up ground,” wrote Zelensky, who said Russia struck more than 15 Ukrainian power generation and transmission sites on Friday.
Trump has been warming toward Moscow while publicly criticising Zelensky, including suggesting Kyiv needs a new leader.
Weeks before US midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republicans are battling to keep their narrow grip on Congress, the measures could have raised oil prices as Americans face higher costs largely attributed to the US-Israeli war on Iran, analysts have said.
China and India, among the biggest buyers of Russian oil, had raised concerns about the bill. Beijing said it “consistently opposed long-arm jurisdiction that lacks a basis in international law”, while India warned Washington that new tariffs could affect bilateral ties.
US Representative Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, criticised the waiver. “Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression,” Beyer said in a statement.
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, called the waiver “a truly historic moment” in a post on X.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026
