Barely a month after putting his signature on one of the toughest Russia packages Congress has produced, Donald Trump has switched most of it off. With a decree signed late on Friday, Washington time, the White House halted the heart of the so-called Graham Act, 48 hours ahead of the date on which its penalties would have started to bite.
The law, named after the South Carolina senator who died unexpectedly in July, was designed to squeeze the money flowing into Moscow’s war chest. It would have let the administration hit goods from the five largest customers for Russian energy, a group headed by China and India, with levies as high as 100 percent. Vladimir Putin and other members of the elite, Russian lenders and the grey fleet of tankers Moscow uses to dodge embargoes were also on the target list.
To pull the brake, the act requires the president to certify to lawmakers that a waiver serves the country’s “national interests” and to explain why in a report. Trump says both documents have gone to Capitol Hill, but he offered no public reasoning. Measures imposed under earlier executive orders against Russia stay in place, according to the order.
The timing points to the petrol pump. Diesel prices have jumped by roughly 70 percent since fighting with Iran broke out in February, and Americans head to the polls in the midterms on 3 November. Seven days earlier the president had unveiled a fuel arrangement with the Kremlin designed to free up large volumes of Russian diesel for export.
Reactions split along predictable lines. Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal called the step a “craven, cowardly action”, and even Republican congressman Don Bacon accused Trump of dragging the conflict out. Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, by contrast, celebrated a “historic moment”.
In Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky voiced regret, arguing the measures would have been a powerful lever. On Saturday he listed 15 Ukrainian power facilities hit by Russia overnight and warned that Moscow wants a nationwide blackout as the cold season approaches.
