WASHINGTON -- 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.
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.
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.
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.
"It took painstaking, sometimes painful negotiations and discussions. But it meets a pivotal moment. Ukraine is at a crossroads. It is turning the tide on the battlefield," said Blumenthal, who traveled multiple times with Graham to Ukraine.
Lawmakers have long pushed for a tougher U.S. line on Russia after more than four years of war on Ukraine. While Trump has issued sanctions on Moscow during his second term, most Republicans and Democrats in the Senate want the Kremlin to face harsher financial penalties that could potentially convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion and come to the negotiating table.
A bipartisan set of senators and the White House spent more than a year iterating the Russia bill, some far tougher on Moscow and its exporting network, including one that would have imposed 500% tariffs on imported goods from any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products.
But the White House didn't want Congress to mandate such penalties, leaving Trump maximum flexibility as he tries to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. The bill is a compromise that received support from the Republicans, Democrats and the Oval Office, people familiar with the matter said. It also gives Trump statutory backing so he doesn't run afoul of the Supreme Court, which this year rejected his use of an emergency law to unilaterally impose tariffs.
Trump's team said the president supported the bill, which senators back in large numbers and want to pass in Graham's honor following the aortic dissection that medical examiners assess killed him at 71 years old. Asked directly Monday about his views on the legislation, Trump said "we're talking about that."
Some analysts fear that Trump won't use the broad new powers granted to him in the specific way the Senate designed the bill.
"They may well not be used as intended to pressure Russia, but rather as a way for Trump to wage trade wars against friends and foes alike," said Edward Fishman, a former senior U.S. sanctions official who now runs the geoeconomics program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Secondary sanctions on the actual buyers of Russian oil and their facilitators -- refineries, banks, oil traders -- would be a much more effective approach than secondary tariffs, Fishman said, which are penalties placed on a different entity to affect the coffers of the main target.
"I suspect the White House has come around to supporting the bill because they realize it will give Trump much greater latitude on tariffs, " said Fishman.
The top five importers of Russian crude oil in 2025 were China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, said Blumenthal.
The top five importers of Russian natural gas last year were China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium, though the latter four countries would be exempt from the tariffs as they are working to reduce Russian gas imports and purchased less than 15% of Russia's total natural gas imports, he said.
Democrats counter the criticism about granting Trump more tariff authorities by insisting secondary tariffs placed on India last year are what led to a reduction in its purchases of Russian energy. But Fishman said the Trump administration's 2025 sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, two of Russia's two biggest oil companies, and the threat of secondary sanctions on Indian banks and refineries had a much greater effect.
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.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters Monday that he is assessing whether the bill could come to the floor soon. "Lindsey was the man driving that, the driving force behind it, but there are others who have a deep interest in it, so it would be great if we could figure out a way, a path forward to get that done."
Write to Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com, Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com and Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 14, 2026 17:19 ET (21:19 GMT)
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