U.S. President Donald Trump has approved the bill threatening a 500% tariff on countries imncluding India that are purchasing Russian oil or uranium and fueling Russia and Ukraine’s war.
Trump has green-lit the bipartisan Russian sanctions bill, which could be used to penalize the trading partners of Moscow, which includes India, China, and Brazil as well, over their continued purchase of Russian oil, said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. If passed, the Graham-Blumenthal sanctions bill would allow the U.S. president to increase the 500% tariffs on nations that are purchasing Russian oil or uranium and fueling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine in Ukraine.
The sanctions package is aimed at targeting Moscow economically, as Trump administration is making hard efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. Graham said that he met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, during which the President extended his support to the bill that has been in the works for months.
Lindsey Graham is hopeful that the vote on the bill will take place as soon as next week. The Republican lawmaker claims that the bill will give authority to Trump to punish the countries who are buying cheap Russian oil and fueling Putin’s war machine. Among the countries that will face those higher tariffs are India, which is already facing a higher tariff of 50% due to its purchase of Russian oil.
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After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others.
This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace…
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 7, 2026
In August 2025, Trump had announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as a penalty for India’s purchase of Russian oil. Along with India, China and Brazil will also be under the scanner, echoing Trump’s previous threats to BRICS nations. The bill lay out four conditions on which a person or a country would be sanctioned under the law, and these are refusing to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine, violating a negotiated peace agreement, initiating another invasion of Ukraine, overthrowing, dismantling and seeking to subvert the Ukrainian government.
The bill also calls on the President to impose a range of sanctions, including visa restrictions as well as tariffs as high as 500%. The bill also mandates the Treasury Department to impose property blocking sanctions and the Commerce Department to ban the export, re-export, and in-country transfer to or in Russia of any U.S. produced energy or energy product. Trump had already warned India of an increase in tariffs last week. Without giving more context, the US president added that this decision, if made, would be because of India’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
