Trump Pauses Graham Act Russia Sanctions Before Deadline

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday waiving a package of Russia sanctions that Congress passed and he himself signed into law last month, two days before the restrictions were due to take effect, the Guardian reported. Trump told Congress the pause was in the national interest, the paper reported.

What does the executive order waive?

The order suspends enforcement of sanctions, restrictions and duties on Russia that were set to target Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers used to keep Russian energy exports moving despite Western sanctions, according to the Guardian. The underlying statute also directs Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exemption for countries that import less than 15% of Russia's natural gas exports and have taken steps to cut back, the Guardian reported.

Why was the law about to take effect now?

Trump signed the sanctions bill last month after it passed both chambers of Congress in what the Guardian described as a rare act of bipartisan agreement. The legislation's primary backer in Congress was the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. It was designed to cut off, more quickly than prior sanctions regimes, financial resources that fuel Russia's war against Ukraine, according to the report. The new restrictions were due to be implemented within two days of Friday's order, the Guardian reported.

How has Moscow responded to the pause?

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the move on social media, calling it a milestone for the legislation by its informal name.

"The Trump administration's suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment," Dmitriev wrote, according to the Guardian.

What is the state of Trump's relationship with Zelenskyy?

The waiver lands amid what the Guardian characterized as a deepening row between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has been publicly critical of Zelenskyy in recent days, including suggesting Ukraine needs a new leader, the Guardian reported. The timing links the sanctions pause directly to the broader dispute over how the war should be managed and who should negotiate its end.

What else has Trump done on Russian energy?

Friday's announcement follows Trump's statement a week earlier that the United States had agreed to purchase diesel from Russia in an effort to bring down global energy prices, a move the Guardian said upended years of US and Western pressure on the Kremlin to end the war. Trump said at the time that Russia would immediately supply more, according to the report. Together, the diesel purchase and the sanctions waiver mark a shift from the tightening posture Congress wrote into last month's law toward a more transactional approach to Moscow, even as the law's tariff provisions — including the 100% duty on major importers of Russian oil and gas — remain on the books, available to Trump to reinstate if he does not continue to waive them. The Guardian did not report a date by which Trump must revisit the waiver, nor any public response from congressional sponsors of the bill to Friday's order.