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Donald Trump backs new Russia sanctions bill that could impact India
Senator Lindsey Graham, a close political ally of President Trump, introduced the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 in the US Senate in April this year
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would strongly consider backing a new Russia sanctions bill that aims to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war. The bill, which was introduced in the US Senate earlier this year, proposes a 500% tariff on countries such as India that purchase Russian energy products.
“I’m looking. It’s totally at my option. They pass it totally at my option, and to terminate totally at my option. And I’m looking at it very strongly,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. The American leader also expressed frustration at Putin for refusing to end the conflict with Ukraine. Trump recently directed America’s department of defense to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a close political ally of President Trump, introduced the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 in the US Senate in April this year. The bill proposes a steep 500% tariff on goods and services exports from countries that purchase Russian-origin oil, natural gas, uranium and petroleum products. It also pushes for expanded sanctions against Russian businesses, government institutions and top policymakers.
Senator Graham, who is steering the bill through Congress, has said the bill would target countries such as India and China.
“I’ve got 84 co-sponsors for a Russian sanctions bill that is an economic bunker buster against China, India, and Russia for Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. I think that bill’s going to pass,” Graham said in a television interview in June.
With President Trump’s backing, the bill could move fast.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there was “a lot of interest” in the new bill and more announcements could be made later this week.
The bill proposes to allow the US President to issue a one-time waiver of 180 days to a particular country “if the President determines that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United States”. According to reports in the American media, the bill is being changed to allow the President to issue a waiver a second time.
India was the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in May 2025, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. It estimated that India purchased fossil fuels worth €4.2 billion from Russia in May, with crude oil amounting to 72% of the total.
India is closely tracking the bill and the Indian Embassy is in touch with Senator Graham regarding the bill, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his visit to Washington earlier this month.
“Regarding Senator Lindsey Graham’s bill, obviously, any development, which is happening in the US Congress is of interest to us, if it impacts our interest or could impact our interest. So we have been in touch with Senator Graham. The embassy and the ambassador have been in touch. I think our concerns and our interests on energy security have been made conversant to him, so we’ll then have to cross that bridge if we come to it,” Jaishankar told reporters in Washington.
