US Russia sanctions bill cuts India, China tariff threat from 500% to 100%

The US Senate on Tuesday unveiled a revised Russia sanctions bill that significantly softens its proposed tariff penalties on major buyers of Russian oil, including India and China, reducing the maximum tariff from a blanket 500% to up to 100% for the five largest purchasers of Russian crude, Reuters reported.

The bipartisan legislation, backed by Republican and Democratic senators, seeks to intensify pressure on Moscow by sanctioning Russian officials, financial institutions and energy projects while using tariffs to discourage countries from continuing to buy Russian oil and gas. The revised draft follows months of negotiations with President Donald Trump, who recently endorsed moving the bill forward.

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The measure was originally introduced in April 2025 by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Graham, who died suddenly on Saturday, had announced during a visit to Ukraine a day earlier that he had reached an agreement with Trump to advance the legislation.

Under the revised proposal, tariffs of up to 100% would apply only to the five largest purchasers of Russian crude, replacing the earlier proposal that called for a blanket 500% tariff on countries importing Russian oil and natural gas.

According to Senate aides, the top five buyers of Russian crude are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. The largest importers of Russian natural gas are China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium.

The updated bill also creates an exemption for countries that import less than 15% of Russia's natural gas exports and are taking significant steps to reduce those imports. Senate aides said the provision could exempt Japan, France, Hungary and Belgium.

Besides tariffs, the legislation imposes sanctions on Russia's shadow fleet of tankers operating outside Western maritime services, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, other Russian financial institutions and major state-owned energy projects, including Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 1, 2 and 3.

The revised version also gives the US president the authority to waive the sanctions if doing so is deemed to be in the national interest.

Senate aides said the legislation had 26 co-sponsors as of Tuesday, with more expected to join, expressing confidence that it had a clear path to passage.

Explaining the decision to soften the tariff provisions, one Senate aide said the changes reflected months of negotiations to secure Trump's backing.

"This is the only product that currently has buy-in from everybody and is likely the only product that is going to move forward and put pressure on Russia the way we would all like to get," the aide said.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said sanctions on Iran and Hezbollah could also be added to the legislation, describing such a move as a "very big thing." Blumenthal, however, cautioned against expanding the bill, saying Congress should focus on passing the current version rather than adding new targets.

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Responding to Trump's remarks, another Senate aide said the legislation already exposes countries such as Iran that work with Russia's defence industrial base to sanctions and tariffs.

Trump also expressed confidence that the bill would become law.

"This is in honor of Lindsey. This was his thing. He wanted this more than anything. You know how he felt, and there's a good chance that it gets done," Trump said.

(With inputs from Reuters)