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India, 4 other nations face 100% tariffs as US Senate advances Russia sanctions bill
The bill, formally titled the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026”, is now set for a final Senate vote later this week, where it is widely expected to pass comfortably
The US Senate voted 86-12 on Tuesday to advance a new Russia sanctions bill that would authorise tariffs of up to 100% on India and four other countries for purchasing Russian energy, clearing a key procedural hurdle hours after a funeral service in Washington for the legislation’s chief architect, Senator Lindsey Graham.
The vote came on a day when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended Graham’s funeral at Washington National Cathedral, met President Donald Trump at the White House, and later watched the Senate vote from the gallery after a private meeting with senators. Eleven Democrats and one Republican, Kentucky’s Rand Paul, voted against the measure.
The bill, formally titled the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026”, is now set for a final Senate vote later this week, where it is widely expected to pass comfortably. Beyond the Russia-focused provisions, the legislation has also been updated to renew a set of Iran sanctions due to expire at the end of the year.
Speaking after the vote, Senator Richard Blumenthal, who worked alongside Graham on the bill for more than a year, said it was designed to spare US allies. “It is carefully crafted to make sure that we are not hitting our allies and that we are hitting China and India. Let’s be really blunt. China and India are the main culprits here. They purchase the vast majority of oil and gas. They are fuelling Russia’s war machine. And they are doing us no favours anywhere else in the world,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal also pointed to the effect of Washington’s earlier 25% tariff penalty on India, saying it had prompted a sharp cut in Indian purchases of Russian oil at the time. That penalty was lifted in February as part of a bilateral trade framework, and Indian imports of Russian crude have since climbed back to record levels — rising 34% month-on-month in June, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Indian purchases were valued at €4.5 billion in June, accounting for roughly 36% of Russia’s crude oil export revenue, making India the second largest buyer behind China.
To be sure, Washington itself allowed a general licence permitting countries including India to purchase Russian energy without attracting sanctions after its military confrontation with Iran choked off West Asia crude oil supplies.
Azerbaijan, Hungary and Slovakia are also targeted by the bill, which grants the US president authority to place tariffs on the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas. Should the bill pass the Senate and the House of Representatives, the US Trade Representative’s office will set the exact tariff rate for each targeted country. Blumenthal clarified that the bill grants Trump the authority to impose such tariffs but does not compel him to do so.
The legislation faces opposition from House Democrats, who argue it hands Trump expanded tariff powers. Congressman Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has called it a “Trojan horse”. “This is not so much a sanctions bill as it is a massive backdoor authority for President Trump to impose more tariffs, including on our European allies, that hurt American families. The sanctions the bill does contain are entirely at Donald Trump’s discretion, and he has made clear repeatedly that he would rather waive sanctions on Russia than impose new ones,” Meeks said in a statement earlier this month.
Those differences are expected to surface if the bill clears the Senate and reaches the House, which remains in recess until late August.
India’s ministry of external affairs (MEA) said on July 18 — before the Senate vote — that it was “closely following” developments related to the bill. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India’s crude oil purchases are guided by its energy security needs and a diversified sourcing strategy.
