The Morning Risk Report: What's in Lindsey Graham's Russia-Tariffs Bill? By David Smagalla | Dow Jones Risk Journal
Good morning. A new bill that had been championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham would give President Trump fresh authority to impose tariffs on the largest importers of Russian energy , in legislation designed to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
What it aims to do: The measure, which was expected to be introduced in Congress as soon as this week, would target the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas, with China and India atop the list. Under the draft bill, Trump could issue up to 100% tariffs on the individual countries and individuals facilitating those energy sales, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D, Conn.), who drafted the bill with Graham.
Tariffs as foreign policy tool: If the bill eventually becomes law, it would be the first time that Congress has authorized the use of tariffs as an explicit geopolitical weapon, analysts said. Tariffs historically have been used as a tool to combat unfair trade practices.
And more: The bill also includes sanctions provisions on Russian defense, energy, and financial targets as well as the country's shadow fleet, the secretive network of aging vessels to circumvent global sanctions, lawmakers said.
What next: The fight now moves to passing the legislation. The earlier version of the bill had significant bipartisan support. The new version could face opposition from some pro-Ukraine Democrats who fear it gives Trump too much tariff authority. The complication is the so-called "blue slip" issue, where any legislation that raises revenue through tariffs or another method must originate in the House, where success remains an open question. Compliance
Justice Department says over $1 billion recovered in trade-fraud crackdown.
The Justice Department said it has recovered more than $1 billion
in its effort to crack down on trade and customs fraud, Risk Journal's Liz Young reports (free link).
The $1 billion includes criminal and civil recoveries, penalties, forfeitures and charge losses identified by the so-called Trade Fraud Task Force. The task force's mission is to investigate and prosecute people and companies, including importers, customs brokers and distributors, who make misrepresentations to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid tariffs or skirt bans on materials made with forced labor.
Background: Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department has ramped up efforts to find and snuff out evasion of tariffs and other regulations. Higher tariffs imposed by President Trump over the past year and a half have raised the stakes for importers and created additional incentives for bad actors to minimize duties.
Bank of England, regulators to oversee tech giants in the U.K.
Risk Journal reports: Three of the U.K.'s most august financial institutions are turning their attention to the tech giants operating in the country , saying that the companies and their services are too important to the functioning of the financial sector to operate unchecked (free link).
Oversight expanded: The Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority will start overseeing what they refer to as critical third parties-cloud service providers that underpin the U.K. financial system. These include Amazon Web Services European division, Google Cloud's European division, Microsoft's Irish division and Oracle's U.K. division.
President Trump's pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, ran into headwinds
in the Senate on Tuesday, a day ahead of what was expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing for the close White House ally.
The U.S. sanctioned a remote internet network provider
and two individuals who are accused of enabling cybercriminal activity against Americans, reports Risk Journal (free link).
President Trump said imports of aircraft and aircraft parts pose a national security risk
to the U.S. and called for talks with foreign trading partners to bring about changes to the market, but declined to impose tariffs immediately (free link).
The European Union is removing leather
from its flagship deforestation regulation, saying that other meat restrictions should be enough to limit forest loss due to cattle herding (free link).
The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with CVS Health's pharmacy benefit manager
business on Tuesday, the agency's second major agreement this year with drug industry middlemen.
The U.K. government said Monday it intends to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
and Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, as well as Russia's GRU Volunteer Corps, as the first groups proscribed under new powers for threats against the state, outlawing support for the entities (free link).
A group of Meta employees is suing the social-media company
over how it carried out layoffs this spring, alleging that it used AI that disproportionately cut workers with disabilities or on protected leave.
The U.K. antitrust watchdog launched an initial merger probe
into the proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Huel by Danone to examine whether the deal would lessen competition in the country. Risk
The battle for Hormuz: Trump shifts into dangerous new phase in Iran war.
President Trump's new plan to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz by resuming strikes and reimposing the blockade
is his third major shift in military strategy
as he searches for a way to turn the tables on Iran in the nearly five-month-old war.
What he's tried: Trump has tried air and missile attacks, a naval quarantine and now the calibrated use of firepower to try to coerce Tehran to agree to his terms, in addition to diplomatic inducements. But Iran has exploited its proximity to a major oil export route to defy Washington and joust for influence across the Middle East.
No clear path forward: A stable peace appears elusive, some former officials say, as each side is calculating that it can win the long game in a test of wills that may haunt the rest of Trump's presidency, including through the midterm elections in November.
Trump Reverses Strait of Hormuz Toll, as U.S. Restarts Blockade of Iran's Ports
Iran Is Attacking a Crucial Oil-Market Lifeline: Shuttle Runs
The U.S. and Iran Reckon With Shrinking Options to End the War
U.A.E. Rewarded With Coveted AI Chips for Supporting U.S. War in Iran
The U.S. auto industry has to be prepared to take on China's fiercely competitive carmakers
and expect that one day they will break into America, Ford Motor's executive chairman said Tuesday.
China's growth slowed in the second quarter
of the year to the weakest pace in more than three years, as surging exports buoyed by the artificial-intelligence boom failed to compensate for a struggling domestic economy and sluggish consumer spending.
China's exports surged
more than expected, defying forecasts of a slowdown and providing a vital boost to an economy still weighed down by weak domestic demand.
A Chinese startup has stepped out of the shadows
with the release of an artificial-intelligence chip, aiming to prove that China can power its AI boom entirely on homegrown technology.
Xi Jinping once admired Vladimir Putin. Now he manages him .
Ukraine said one of its naval drones on Tuesday sank a Russian patrol ship
docked in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik, close to a luxurious compound allegedly linked to Russia's president.
The SaaS-pocalypse has come for IBM. Shares fell more than 25% Tuesday, the largest one-day drop on record
after the company issued a rare profit warning, citing a shift in customer spending from software to artificial-intelligence hardware and memory chips.
Meta is pushing to popularize its AI-enabled, camera-equipped smartglasses as part of a plan to control the next phase of the internet. But more than 70 organizations signed a letter in April calling on Meta to halt plans for NameTag , a feature designed to remember people's faces.
The union representing Hollywood screenwriters on Tuesday sued to block
Paramount's $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a day after a coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general challenged the transaction.
Several European companies said they would jointly develop a system to intercept medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles , moving to strengthen the continent's defenses against potential aerial threats.
Michigan state health officials are narrowing in on lettuce as a possible culprit
in the rapidly expanding explosive-diarrhea outbreak, though federal authorities say they are still working to confirm a specific food source as the cause.
Chinese authorities have charged a China-born American seismologist
who researches underground nuclear tests with espionage after secretly detaining him in late 2024, according to the Massachusetts man's supporters. What Else Matters Chairman Kevin Warsh pledged to lawmakers on Tuesday that the Federal Reserve will bring inflation down, saying members of its rate-setting committee "have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has suspended the use of traffic stops
to arrest immigrants following two fatal shootings, according to current and former ICE officials familiar with the matter.
Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett testified before Congress
Tuesday, where they fielded questions about security threats, the court's ethics code and the rise of the "shadow docket."
When Michigan fired Sherrone Moore as head football coach in December 2025, the university portrayed it as a swift response to the coach's inappropriate relationship with a staff member. But new findings show that the school's athletic director and other officials had received repeated reports
about Moore's behavior.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
July 15, 2026 07:14 ET (11:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments