Trump backs Graham's Russia Sanctions Bill, setting up fresh tariff threat for India

Washington DC [US], July 14, (ANI): The Trump administration has signalled its backing for a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that could subject India to steep new tariffs over its purchases of Russian oil, a White House official told ANI, days after the legislation's lead sponsor, Senator Lindsey Graham, died.
Responding to a query from ANI on whether President Trump would support the bill and whether India could face fresh penalties for buying Russian crude, a White House official said: "President Trump supports the bill."
The legislation, often referred to as the Sanctioning Russia Act, co-authored by Graham along with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, would give Trump the authority to impose a tariff of up to 500 per cent on imports from countries doing business with Russia's energy sector.
The bill would authorise 500 per cent secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, and if enacted, would represent the most sweeping secondary tariff authority over third-country trade Congress has ever granted a president.
Graham had repeatedly named India and China as central targets, arguing that the bill's real focus is to hit the customers of Putin and that China and India together buy around 70 per cent of Russian oil, gas and petroleum products. Graham believed that the war would end when economic pressure forced these buyers to turn on Moscow.
Indian refiners cut back Russian crude imports sharply earlier this year amid bilateral trade talks with Washington and US sanctions on Russian oil producers. The Russian crude import dropped from roughly 1.84 million barrels a day in November 2025 to about 1.04 million barrels a day by February 2026, according to Kpler data.
Complicating matters further, a temporary US Treasury waiver that had allowed Indian purchases of Russian crude without triggering sanctions lapsed on June 17, 2026, leaving India's current purchasing position in a legal grey zone. Economists estimate a full 500 per cent tariff scenario could shave up to 0.5 per cent off India's GDP, with pharmaceuticals, textiles and IT services major US export earners facing the most immediate disruption. New Delhi has not issued a public response to the latest development and has consistently maintained that its energy purchases are guided by national economic interest rather than political alignment.
The push for the legislation comes at an unusual moment for the Senate. Graham worked on the bill for more than a year before his death, and many senators now see passing it as a fitting tribute to their late colleague. But Democrats, including Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, want Trump to personally and forcefully endorse the bill rather than rely on a background statement from a White House official before the Senate moves forward.
Not everyone in the Republican Party is on board. Senator Rand Paul warned that penalising China and India over Russian oil purchases would cause major disruption to trade and pose serious risks to the global economy. (ANI)