President Trump has signed one of the most powerful Russia sanctions packages ever passed by Congress — and the law gives him a new weapon that reaches far beyond Moscow.

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act targets Russian officials, banks, energy projects, defense industries and the so-called shadow fleet that keeps Russian oil moving around existing sanctions.

It also gives President Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods from countries that remain among the biggest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas.

That puts China and India squarely in the spotlight.

The signing was confirmed Friday night as the scope of the new law began to come into focus:

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The Associated Press reports that President Trump signed the measure after it cleared both chambers with large bipartisan majorities. The Senate approved it 86-11, and the House followed with a 262-159 vote.

The law is named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who spent more than a year developing the package with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Graham died unexpectedly in July after returning from Ukraine, making the bill one of his final major legislative efforts.

Its stated purpose is to drain the money that allows Vladimir Putin to continue the war in Ukraine. Instead of limiting the pressure to a few individuals, the package reaches into the financial, energy and transportation systems that keep Russia’s war machine funded.

That includes Russian political and military officials, financial institutions, state-linked energy operations and foreign networks accused of helping Moscow evade existing restrictions.

The shadow fleet is a major target. Russia has relied on a web of aging tankers, opaque ownership structures and middlemen to move oil while dodging Western controls.

The new law gives the administration additional tools to block those ships, their operators and the financial channels behind them.

A detailed breakdown posted after the signing highlighted the law’s reach into Russian banks, energy projects and oil shipping:

The official bill text on GovInfo lays out sanctions against people affiliated with or supporting the Russian government, restrictions involving energy and defense, measures aimed at evasion networks, and new trade pressure on countries buying Russian petroleum.

The secondary-tariff authority is the most explosive piece. It allows President Trump to apply tariffs of up to 100 percent to goods from countries that rank among the five largest purchasers of Russian oil or natural gas.

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China and India are the obvious giants in that group. Other nations that continue buying large quantities of Russian energy could also face a painful choice: reduce their business with Moscow or risk losing access to the American market on favorable terms.

The law does not automatically place a 100 percent tariff on every country that buys a barrel of Russian oil. It gives the president substantial discretion, includes exceptions and creates a process for countries that sharply reduce their purchases or provide significant support to Ukraine.

That flexibility is classic President Trump. The threat itself becomes leverage before the tariff is ever imposed.

Countries that assumed Washington had exhausted its sanctions options now have to calculate the cost of a trade confrontation with the United States. Moscow’s energy customers may discover that cheap Russian barrels are not cheap at all once access to the American economy is placed on the other side of the scale.

The tariff authority drew immediate attention overseas, where governments and markets began examining which major energy buyers could be exposed:

The White House confirmed that President Trump signed House bill 5334 on September 18, completing the measure’s path through Congress one day after it reached his desk.

Its statement identifies the law’s three central pieces: expanded statutory sanctions, tariffs and prohibitions on Russia, plus an extension of the existing sanctions regime aimed at Iran’s energy and weapons activity.

The official notice names the measure as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and confirms that the full congressional package is now federal law.

The announcement is narrow but decisive: the president approved the bill Congress sent him without postponing its Russia provisions, stripping out the secondary-tariff authority or separating the Iran extension.

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Federal agencies now have the statutory authority to begin implementing the new sanctions, trade prohibitions and tariff options under the effective dates and enforcement procedures written into the act.

The measure gives President Trump room to decide how aggressively to use those tools. That means enforcement will matter as much as the statute itself.

The president can use sanctions and tariffs as a negotiating weapon, granting limited exceptions when a country changes course or when American interests require flexibility. He can also increase pressure when foreign governments refuse to cooperate.

Congress retained oversight procedures for major sanctions changes, but the White House now holds a much larger set of lawful trade authorities than it had before the bill was signed.

The political alignment behind the law was unusual. Republicans supplied the driving force, but dozens of Democrats joined them while other Democrats opposed the bill because they believed it gave President Trump too much tariff power.

Axios reports that the House vote scrambled normal party lines and capped more than a year of negotiations. The outlet notes that the law significantly expands economic pressure on Russia while giving the president authority to pursue secondary tariffs against major buyers of Russian energy.

The package began as a sanctions push led by Graham and dozens of senators in 2025. It later gained momentum as President Trump’s efforts to pressure Moscow toward a settlement failed to stop the fighting.

House passage was the final congressional hurdle before the bill reached the president’s desk. The 262-159 vote included support from dozens of Democrats even as their party’s leadership opposed the measure.

For President Trump, the law creates leverage on three fronts at once.

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It tightens the financial vise around Putin and forces China, India and other energy buyers to reassess the cost of helping Moscow.

It also gives the United States a stronger hand in any negotiation over ending the war.

The message is not subtle: countries can continue financing Russia’s oil economy, or they can protect their access to the world’s largest consumer market. Doing both just became much harder.

President Trump has repeatedly argued that economic power can accomplish what endless wars cannot. With this signature, he now has a congressionally authorized tariff hammer designed for exactly that kind of pressure.

The world will be watching what he does with it.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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