Senate Softens China Tariff Threat in Revamped Russia Sanctions Bill Honoring Late Senator Graham

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A Bill Reshaped by Compromise

The legislation, first introduced in April 2025 by Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Richard Blumenthal, spent more than a year stuck in negotiations. The updated draft, released Tuesday, reflects months of bargaining between lawmakers and the White House.

Where the original proposal threatened tariffs of up to 500% on dozens of countries doing business with Russia, the new version narrows that list dramatically. Only the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil and the five largest buyers of Russian natural gas would face tariffs, capped at 100%. China appears on both lists, while India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan round out the oil purchasers, and France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium the gas buyers.

Countries that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia, and that are actively cutting those imports, would be exempt. That carve-out is expected to shield close U.S. allies such as Japan, France, Hungary and Belgium from the tariff threat.

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Honoring Graham's Legacy

The bill's release came just three days after Graham's sudden death. He had announced from Ukraine, a day before he died, that he had struck a deal with President Trump to move the legislation forward.

Senators from both parties framed Tuesday's rollout as a tribute to Graham's decades of work on national security issues. More than two dozen co-sponsors had signed on by Tuesday afternoon, with aides voicing confidence that additional support would follow quickly.

"This is in honor of Lindsey. This was his thing. He wanted this more than anything," Trump told reporters, adding he believed the bill had a strong chance of becoming law.

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Why Beijing Remains in the Spotlight

China's position atop both the oil and gas purchaser lists is no accident of drafting. Beijing has for years been the largest single buyer of Russian crude, and its energy purchases have provided Moscow with a critical revenue stream throughout the war in Ukraine — even as Western governments imposed sweeping sanctions after the 2022 invasion.

Critics of Beijing's role point out that the Chinese Communist Party has consistently avoided condemning Russia's invasion and has deepened trade ties with Moscow at a time when Western democracies were trying to isolate the Kremlin economically. The revised bill's tariff mechanism is designed specifically to raise the cost of that relationship, though the lower cap and narrower country list represent a retreat from the more sweeping economic pressure originally proposed.

The bill also targets Russia's so-called shadow fleet of tankers that evade Western maritime oversight, along with major Russian financial institutions and state-backed energy ventures including Yamal LNG and the Arctic LNG projects.

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A Waiver for the President

A key addition favored by the White House is a provision letting Trump waive the sanctions entirely if he judges it to be in the national interest. Senate aides described this flexibility as central to winning the administration's support after months of difficult talks.

Blumenthal pushed back on suggestions that the bill should be expanded further to cover Iran and Hezbollah, as Trump floated on Tuesday. "With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it... to other potential targets," Blumenthal told reporters. A Senate aide noted separately that the bill's existing language on Russia's defense-industrial base would already expose Iran to secondary sanctions and tariffs if it continues supporting Moscow's war effort.

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What Comes Next

With 26 co-sponsors from both parties already secured, aides expressed optimism that the bill is on a credible path to a floor vote, though no date has been set. Its fate will test whether Congress can translate bipartisan goodwill — sharpened by Graham's death — into the first major new sanctions package against Russia in years.

For China and India, the practical impact will depend heavily on how the U.S. Trade Representative sets the actual tariff rate within the new 100% ceiling, and on whether Trump chooses to use his waiver authority once the bill becomes law.

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Sources

1. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-russia-sanctions-bill-eases-threat-tariffs-china-india-2026-07-14/
2. https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/senators-unveil-russia-sanctions-bill
3. https://thehill.com/policy/international/5968385-senate-russia-sanctions-bill-graham-trump-putin/
4. https://www.axios.com/2026/07/14/lindsey-graham-russia-sanctions-senate-republicans

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