A long-awaited bill against Russia. Lindsey Graham’s legacy

On the day of the funeral of Conservative Senator Lindsey Graham, Congress is seeking to pass a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia, with the backing of Donald Trump, who described the bill as “in honour of Lindsey, who wanted this more than anything else”. The bill imposes mandatory sanctions on the Russian leadership and the country’s energy sector; however, the US President has the power to grant exemptions, subject to written certification that this is “in the national interest of the United States”. This was an explicit request from the White House, which wished to retain maximum flexibility.

This bill – on which Graham had worked for months on end, building up rare cross-party support in the Senate – also targets Russia’s trading partners: the five main importers of oil and natural gas would be hit with 100 per cent tariffs. To date, these countries are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan for oil, and China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium for gas. However, the bill contains a proviso: countries that are taking ‘significant steps’ to reduce their dependence on the Russian energy sector, and whose imports of natural gas amount to less than 15 per cent of Russia’s total exports, are exempt from the tariffs. This proviso would exempt France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium – all allies of the United States – from the tariffs.

On Sunday, Trump called on Congress to include Iran in the sanctions bill as well: some Republicans, such as Senators Tim Scott and Tom Cotton, have expressed their support, but no progress has been made on this front as yet. Although the bill is bipartisan, some Democrats fear that the measure could give Trump further power to impose tariffs on both enemies and allies: indeed, there is no mechanism for Congress to oppose the tariffs, and the authority granted to the president has no expiry date.