A bipartisan group of senators in the United States have introduced a revised version of the Russia sanctions bill championed by the late Senator of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, lowering the punishing tariff threat on China and India from 500 per cent to 100 per cent.
The compromise was reached after more than a year of negotiations that won US President Donald Trump’s backing just days before the South Carolina Graham’s sudden death.
The updated legislation, formally introduced by Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and backed by 26 co-sponsors equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, seeks to impose sweeping sanctions on Russian officials, financial institutions and state-owned energy projects while applying 100 percent tariffs on the five largest purchasers of Russian crude oil and gas, a roster that includes China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan for crude, and China, France, Japan, Hungary and Belgium for natural gas.
The bill’s unveiling carried an unmistakable emotional weight.
US Senator Graham died suddenly on Saturday at 71, less than 48 hours after announcing from Kyiv that he had personally secured Trump’s agreement to move the legislation forward, a breakthrough the South Carolina senator had described to colleagues as the culmination of his longest-running legislative priority. He had called Blumenthal from Ukraine, “absolutely exultant,” with the news, according to the Connecticut senator.
Armed Services Chair @SenatorWicker on Russia sanctions bill that was championed by Lindsey Graham: “And I’m willing to say this — this is Lindsey Graham’s greatest achievement.” pic.twitter.com/pHI6xrpX73
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 14, 2026
A Deal Brokered in Ankara, Delivered From Kyiv
The compromise that unlocked US President Donald Trump’s support came together during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where Graham helped broker an agreement with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the days before his death.
The specific terms of that deal, including the reduction of the maximum tariff rate from 500 per cent to 100 per cent and the addition of presidential waiver authority, reflected months of quiet negotiations between Senate sponsors and the White House over how to craft a bill tough enough to move Russia but flexible enough to preserve US relationships with major energy-importing allies.
“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,” one Senate aide told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions surrounding the bill were confidential.
A second aide, meanwhile, told the agency that the newly updated bill additionally exposes countries that work with the Russian defence industrial base, including Iran, to sanctions and tariffs, a provision that broadens its reach beyond the original energy-focused framework.
US President Trump, who stopped short of a full-throated endorsement at the White House, but signalled strong personal support, framed the bill explicitly as a tribute to the senator who pursued it for more than a year.
This is in honour 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, US President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
What the Revised Russia Sanctions Bill Would Actually Do?
The updated legislation introduced Wednesday is more targeted than the sweeping original version late Senator Graham introduced in April last year alongside Connecticut Senator Blumenthal, but retains the fundamental architecture of his vision: using the coercive power of US trade policy to choke off the revenue streams sustaining Russia’s war machine in Ukraine.
Under the bill as revised, the Treasury Department would be required to impose 100 per cent tariffs on the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas, down sharply from the 500 per cent level proposed in the original text, which critics said would have been economically catastrophic for allied importers and impossible to enforce without triggering retaliatory trade measures across multiple fronts simultaneously.
The legislation would also impose direct sanctions on Russian officials, target the shadow oil tanker fleet Iran and Russia have used to circumvent existing Western sanctions, sanction major Russian financial institutions and cut off state-owned energy projects from access to the US financial system.
The bill additionally gives the president waiver authority, allowing Trump to exempt specific countries from tariffs while requiring the administration to certify any waivers to Congress — a safeguard that addresses one of the original bill’s central criticisms that it would give no flexibility to manage diplomatic relationships with key partners.
Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, a Republican co-sponsor, reportedly framed the legislation in explicitly memorial terms.
“One of the many pillars of Senator Graham’s exemplary career of public service was his dedication to putting America’s national security first and promoting liberty around the world,” she said. “It is an honour to help champion one of his highest priorities: imposing crushing sanctions to cripple Russia’s war machine and hold those fueling it accountable.”
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a Democrat, added her own assessment of what the bill would accomplish. “This legislation would level tough new sanctions on Russia and choke off key export markets for the energy it sells to fund its war machine,” Shaheen said.
