Congress Passed Its Most Sweeping Russia Sanctions in Years. Trump Shelved Them Before They Took Effect

Just 28 days after signing what lawmakers called the most expansive Russia sanctions legislation Congress had ever produced, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on October 16 suspending virtually the entire package — two days before it was set to take effect.

The move effectively neutralized a law named in honor of a recently deceased Republican senator, giving the White House far wider latitude over sanctions policy while blocking all new statutory penalties from activating.

A Bipartisan Blockbuster That Moved in Stages

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 advanced through both chambers of Congress in successive steps. The Senate acted first: on August 7, 2026, the upper chamber approved the measure 86–11, with only 10 Democratic senators and Republican Rand Paul voting against it, while three Republicans did not vote. The bill then moved to the House, which agreed to the Senate's amended version on September 16 by a vote of 262–159, with 58 Democrats and 203 Republicans voting in favor, along with one independent. Seven House Republicans joined most Democrats in opposition.

Trump signed the act into law on September 18, 2026. The legislation codified and expanded existing U.S. sanctions against Russia, broadened authorities to designate individuals for secondary sanctions, introduced steep new tariff powers with a particular focus on Russian energy exports, and extended the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 by five years, through 2031.

Named for a Senator Who Championed It Until His Final Days

The law bears the name of the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who co-introduced earlier versions of the bill with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut beginning in April 2025 and who spent more than a year building support — at one point counting 84 Senate co-sponsors before the legislation reached a floor vote. A final agreement with the White House on the bill's terms was reached in the days immediately before Graham's death. Graham died on July 11, 2026, from what his office described as a brief and sudden illness — the night after returning from his tenth wartime visit to Kyiv, where he had met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After Graham's death, his sister Darline Graham Nordone was appointed to his Senate seat and became the legislation's lead Senate sponsor through its passage. The House cleared the bill roughly two months after Graham's death.

What the Law Was Built to Do

The Graham Act was structured as a multi-layered economic squeeze on Russia's war financing. Section 112 authorized duties of up to 500 percent ad valorem on all Russian imports, stacked on top of any existing tariffs. Section 113 established that the five countries purchasing the largest volumes of Russian crude oil or natural gas — and making new purchases after October 18, the implementation date — could face tariffs of up to 100 percent on all their exports to the United States, irrespective of whether individual shipments complied with the Western price cap on Russian oil. That provision put China and India squarely in the crosshairs, as both rank among Moscow's largest energy customers.

The act also codified existing sanctions imposed under Executive Order 14024 and required sanctions on the Central Bank of Russia, Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, and other state-controlled financial institutions and their subsidiaries. It further targeted Russia's so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to circumvent existing restrictions, and foreign firms supporting Russia's defense industry.

What Trump Actually Signed on October 16

Trump's executive order does not repeal the Graham Act, but it suspends all of its new punitive provisions. The order waives the 500 percent tariff increase on Russian goods under Section 112, the 100 percent tariff on the top five importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas under Section 113, and the 100 percent tariff on the top five countries facilitating Russian oil sanctions evasion. It also waives the sanctions on designated foreign persons under multiple sections of the law.

The order preserves all Russia sanctions that were already in place under prior executive orders before the Graham Act became law — but none of the new statutory measures enter into force.

Trump invoked Section 115 of the act, which authorizes him to waive any provision by submitting to Congress a written certification that doing so is in the national interest of the United States. The certification was submitted, but the order gave the administration much wider latitude going forward to decide which sanctions to keep in place without being legally bound by the act's requirements. The waiver contains no expiration date.

Fuel Prices and the Iran War Factor

The timing of the waiver is closely tied to the Trump administration's push to lower domestic fuel prices, which have climbed in connection with the ongoing U.S. conflict with Iran. The move came after Trump announced a separate deal last week allowing Russia to resume diesel exports to U.S. and global markets, with Moscow pledging to immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel fuel. By waiving the secondary tariff provisions, the president also avoided forcing China and India to choose between continued Russian energy purchases and access to American markets — a pressure campaign that proponents had billed as one of the law's most potent geopolitical tools.

Zelenskyy Condemns the Decision

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was swift to respond after the waiver was announced. His remarks came just two days after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on October 14 against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, damaging equipment at 26 energy sector sites and four oil and gas facilities, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. Zelenskyy had in the preceding weeks repeatedly called on Trump to enforce the Graham Act, telling visiting U.S. lawmakers in Kyiv on October 9 that Ukraine was counting on the legislation being fully implemented. After the waiver, Zelenskyy posted on X criticizing the decision as undermining meaningful pressure on Moscow at a critical moment in the war.

Congressional Backlash Crosses Party Lines

Criticism in Washington was not limited to Democrats. A group of roughly a dozen Republican senators — including Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John Cornyn, and Alan Armstrong — had urged Trump just days before to rescind the Russian diesel agreement and implement the sanctions required by law. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who co-authored the legislation with Graham, publicly condemned the waiver. Several House Democrats issued statements characterizing the waiver as an abandonment of the policy tools Congress had just handed the president.

A bipartisan group from the Congressional Ukraine Caucus — representatives Marcy Kaptur, Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Quigley, and Joe Wilson — had written to Trump in late September calling on him not to ease sanctions against Russia, arguing that doing so would only embolden the Kremlin and prolong the war, and urging him to impose the first round of sanctions designations under the Graham Act ahead of the October 18 deadline.

The Escape Hatch That Was Always There

Legal analysts noted that the presidential waiver built into the Graham Act was not an afterthought — it was a condition the White House insisted on before agreeing to support the bill. Section 115 gives the president authority to suspend any provision by certifying to Congress that the waiver is in the national interest. Section 117 of the act also delegates ongoing monitoring authority to the U.S. Trade Representative, who must track Russian energy purchase volumes and sanctions evasion activity and report to the president — preserving the administration's option to reimpose tariffs at any point if it reverses course.

For measures relating to Russia specifically, termination of the act's core provisions would generally require the president to certify that Russia has signed a peace agreement accepted by Ukraine and has ceased military hostilities. No such certification has been submitted.

For now, the most expansive Russia sanctions package Congress has ever passed sits dormant, its provisions indefinitely suspended by the same president who signed it into law less than a month before.

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