Trump-backed Senate Russia sanctions bill adds Iran, Hezbollah and lowers tariff cap
Democratic lawmakers say the proposal's tariff provisions could give President Donald Trump broad, open-ended authority to hit some buyers of Russian energy, including countries such as India, Japan and EU members.
President Donald Trump has backed a revised version of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 that expands the Russia-focused measure to include Iran and Hezbollah while reducing the maximum secondary tariffs on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas to 100% from 500% in earlier drafts. Democratic lawmakers and Senate Democratic staff now say the bill's tariff language could hand Trump broad new authority to impose trade measures on countries including India, Japan and some European Union members, with no congressional disapproval mechanism and no expiry. Senate aides for supporters of the bill said the top buyers of Russian crude are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, while the top importers of Russian natural gas are China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium. The bill allows exceptions for countries that import less than 15% of Russia's natural gas exports and take significant steps to reduce those imports, which aides said exempts Japan, France, Hungary and Belgium. Representative Gregory Meeks praised sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet and energy infrastructure but said the measure could become a backdoor tariff authority, while Fernando Ferreira of Rapidan Energy Group said Trump could use the tariff threat as leverage in trade talks even as the sanctions provisions may prove more effective.
- secondary tariffs: Trade penalties aimed at third countries or entities that continue business tied to a sanctioned target.
- shadow fleet: Ships used to move sanctioned oil or other cargo while obscuring ownership, insurance or routing.
- sanctions evasion: Methods used to bypass trade or financial restrictions imposed by governments.