Donald Trump suspends the new economic sanctions against Russia adopted by Congress

Suspension of a sanctions regime voted by Congress

Through a presidential decree signed on Friday, Donald Trump decided to suspend a wide range of economic sanctions against Russia, according to information reported by The Guardian. The President of the United States has argued to parliamentarians that this pause in the implementation of legislation approved by both Houses of Congress is of national interest. This text had been initialled the previous month by Donald Trump himself, following a vote that brought together a rare bipartisan consensus between Democrats and Republicans.

This legislation, whose main promoter in the Capitol was the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was designed to accelerate the financial channels that fuel Russia's conflict with Ukraine. The legislation, officially referred to as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctions Russia and Iran Act of 2026, specifically targeted Russian officials, banks and the underground fleet of oil tankers facilitating the movement of Russian hydrocarbons. The entry into force of these retaliatory measures was to take place within two days.

The announcement of this presidential dispensation was a source of great satisfaction in Moscow. According to The Guardian, the Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed this decision on social networks, calling the suspension of the Graham law an important and truly historic moment.

The mechanisms of the law and the power of derogation

The text adopted by the American legislators assigned extended prerogatives to the presidency while setting a precise timetable. Donald Trump had a deadline of October 18 to effectively introduce penalties and tariffs against the Russian energy sector, or to promulgate a derogation. The executive had not told parliamentarians in advance what direction it intended to take.

Among other things, the law required the President to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the top five countries that purchase crude oil or natural gas from Russia. However, an exemption clause was included for those states whose imports account for less than 15% of Russia's total natural gas exports, on the express condition that these nations had taken significant steps to reduce their supplies.

By suspending these provisions, the presidential decree of Friday temporarily exempts many customs duties, restrictions and sanctions provided for in the text, thereby depriving the law of its immediate coercive effect on Moscow trade.

The Russian Diesel Purchase Agreement at the heart of the controversy

The fact that these sanctions have been put to rest just a week after Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with Russia for the acquisition of fuel, says The Guardian. Washington agreed to purchase diesel from Moscow in an attempt to halt the rise in world energy prices, thus breaking with several years of economic pressure from Western countries to force the Kremlin to stop its military operations in Ukraine.

According to Donald Trump's statements the previous week, Russia was expected to provide over 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel immediately. This initial volume is to be supplemented by an additional delivery of 500,000 tonnes in November, immediately followed by a new supply of 1 million tonnes. The US president also claimed that Moscow would deliver an additional 3 million tons in a short time after these first steps.

This initiative sparked protests among the American political class. A dozen senators, including six Republican elected officials, have formally called for the cancellation of this fuel supply agreement. In a letter sent Tuesday to the White House, this bipartisan group urged Donald Trump to implement the sanctions levers provided for in the law passed last month.

Vibrant tensions with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and strategic suspicions

This reorientation of US policy coincides with a significant deterioration in relations between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The U.S. President has multiplied public condemnation of the Ukrainian Head of State, even suggesting that Ukraine needs a new leader. Reacting Friday from Brussels where he met European leaders, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the oil agreement concluded by Washington would mean that cash would begin to flow again to Russia.

The previous weekend, Donald Trump had already taken Ukraine's president short by publicly stating that Kiev and Moscow had pledged not to hit each other on their energy infrastructure. Faced with the end of the mid-term elections next month, the US president blames the Ukrainian strikes against Russian refineries for fuelling the rise in energy prices, a dynamic that could threaten the short majorities held by the Republican party in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

At the same time, the US administration is suspected of restrictions on military assistance to Ukraine, although none of these elements have been formally confirmed. In particular, Washington is accused of withholding intelligence information about Russian ballistic missile attacks and of obstructing the Starshield system, the military expansion of the Starlink satellite network, in order to limit its use on drones moving to more than 100 mph.

Political debates and local electoral repercussions

The future of the Russian sanctions law was also invited to the centre of the electoral competition in South Carolina. The Senate seat left vacant by Lindsey Graham is currently occupied by her sister, Darline Graham, appointed to complete her term and candidate for her more permanent estate. In a debate held in Columbia against its democrat rival Annie Andrews, Darline Graham, who has Donald Trump's support and is expected to campaign with him next week, said he was very proud to participate in the adoption of this text.

However, it recalled that the implementation of sanctions was the prerogative of the President. According to his comments during the debate, the legislation offers the head of the executive the economic instruments that he can mobilize if he wishes to put an end to the conflict. Darline Graham felt it was up to Donald Trump to decide whether or not to use these sanctions, stressing that the goal remains to get fuel prices down and close the war, which, according to Trump, will lead to a fall in gasoline prices.