70% Diesel Price Spike Preceded Trump's Russia Sanctions Waiver

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday waiving sweeping new sanctions on Russia that Congress passed last month, stating the suspension "is in the national interests of the United States," according to NBC News.

What does the executive order actually do?

The order pauses enforcement of a sanctions package Trump himself signed into law only last month. The underlying statute is named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. By invoking a national-interest waiver, Trump halts, without repealing, the law's mechanisms — leaving Congress's framework intact on paper while suspending its operation at the executive's discretion.

What does the Russia sanctions law target?

The bill targets Russia's largest oil and gas buyers, NBC News reports, by authorizing the president to impose tariffs on goods imported from those countries — a category that may include China and India. The law passed with bipartisan support and was designed to choke off revenue streams funding Russia's war in Ukraine by making it costlier for third-country buyers to keep purchasing Russian energy.

Why did Trump cite a national-interest waiver?

Trump's decision follows an announced deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to release hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel fuel onto the global market, according to NBC News. Trump has expressed frustration with Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure, blaming those attacks — rather than the Iran war — for rising fuel costs. The price of diesel has climbed almost 70% since the Iran war began, per NBC News.

What is the diesel deal with Putin?

The arrangement ties the sanctions waiver directly to supply: Russia agreed to put more diesel into global markets, and in exchange Trump suspended the tariff-authorizing sanctions law his own signature had activated weeks earlier. The practical effect, NBC News notes, is to open a financial lifeline for Moscow at a moment when the sanctions law was designed to close one.

How did Congress respond to the waiver?

The move drew immediate pushback from lawmakers who backed the original bill. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the waiver a "craven, cowardly action," according to NBC News. "These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin," Blumenthal said in a statement cited by the outlet.

What happens to the sanctions now?

The statute remains on the books; Trump's order simply suspends its application under the national-interest provision Congress wrote into the bill. That means the tariff authority over countries buying Russian oil and gas could be reactivated without new legislation if a future executive order lifts the waiver. For now, the diesel-for-waiver exchange takes precedence, and the sanctions regime that cleared Congress with bipartisan votes last month sits dormant.