Trump Waives Impending Sanctions on Russian Goods and Energy Buyers

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday that waived sweeping new sanctions against Russia and buyers of Russian energy that would have taken effect on Sunday.

The Details: The sanctions were included as part of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which passed the Senate in July and the House in September with bipartisan support. The sanctions would have included 500% tariffs on Russian goods, 100% tariffs on most countries that bought Russian crude oil or natural gas, and the prohibition of US citizens investing in Russia's energy sector, among other things.

Doubled Down: Trump wrote on Sunday, "My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table." He added that he wants to maintain a status quo where Russia "is doing very little, if anything" to help Iran "compared to what they could be doing" and that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have hurt American businesses.

Previously: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) passed away in July, and his sister has since replaced him. The sanctions package passed the Senate in July just after his funeral. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy attended both his funeral and the Senate vote.

More Recently: As diesel prices have surged worldwide, earlier this month, President Trump struck a diesel deal with Russia, which media outlets across the spectrum framed mostly negatively. Trump also called for Ukraine to "get a new president." Last week, Ukraine reported losing access to its Starlink internet service, and media outlets have framed differently whether SpaceX CEO Elon Musk or the Trump administration was more to blame.

Media Framing: Outlets across the spectrum noted that Trump's order drew bipartisan pushback. Outlets from the left generally framed the decision more critically than those on the right. For instance, The New York Post (Right bias) wrote in its headline and lead that Trump "cited" the "national interests of the United States" in the order, whereas NBC News (Lean Left) framed Trump as "arguing" in favor of such. Some outlets, like Fox Business (Lean Right) and BBC News (Center), noted in headlines that Trump wasn't waiving all of the Russia sanctions, while most other outlets didn't include this distinction.

Perspectives: The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board (Lean Right) described the waiver as "assistance" to Putin, of whom Trump is now the "best friend in the world after, perhaps China's Xi Jinping." UnHerd (Center) contributor Jennifer Kavanagh argued that despite the ongoing "narrative" that Trump goes back and forth between favoring Ukraine and Russia, his "decision-making on Ukraine is far more consistent than this framing implies." She added, "What has always mattered most for Trump is what is best for him and his political future. Right now, that's anything that will push gas prices down to help his party avoid big losses in the midterms… Trump is on no one's side but his own."

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