WASHINGTON — The Russia sanctions law that carries the name of the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham will not bite for now. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, Oct. 16, that sets aside most of its penalties two days before they were due to start on Oct. 18.
Written to punish Russia and Iran, the Graham Act cleared the House in September, and the president put his signature on it September 18. Lawmakers named it for Graham, a South Carolina Republican and longtime Ukraine backer who died suddenly in July.
On paper, the order still spells out the law’s steepest trade penalties. Goods from Russia would face a duty increase of 500 percent. The five biggest buyers of Russian crude oil and natural gas would see a 100 percent increase if they knowingly kept making new purchases on or after Oct. 18, and the same 100 percent increase would hit the top five countries that help Russia dodge oil sanctions.
The same order then waives those duties along with a long list of other sanctions and restrictions in the act. The law lets a president do that only after telling Congress in writing that a waiver serves the national interest and explaining why, and Trump said he had sent that certification.
The waivers stay in place until the president, or the secretary of state working with the Treasury secretary and the U.S. trade representative, decides more action is needed. The trade representative is to keep watching which countries buy Russian oil and gas and report back. Sanctions on Russia under earlier executive orders are untouched.
The move followed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin under which Moscow is to release millions of tons of diesel onto world markets. Diesel prices have climbed during the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and Republicans have pressed the White House to bring fuel costs down before the November midterm elections.
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