President Trump waived Russia sanctions from the Graham Act on Friday before they took effect, citing U.S. national interests as his administration works to lower fuel prices.
In a Friday evening executive order, President Trump halted the application of new sanctions, restrictions, and duties on Russia under legislation he signed into law only last month.
The Hill reported the waiver arrived as the White House presses to bring down fuel prices that have risen amid the U.S. war in Iran, and after a diesel supply arrangement with Moscow last week.
The order states the pause serves the national interests of the United States. Congress wrote waiver authority into the bill itself, and the president certified that finding to lawmakers.
In the order, Trump wrote:
"I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act,"
He added that he had already sent Congress the required national-interest certification.
The measure, formally tied to the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, was signed last month and posthumously dedicated to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Its design was to pressure the Kremlin over its long military campaign against Ukraine. Tools included tariffs on major Russian energy buyers and on parties that help Moscow dodge existing penalties.
The statute also gave the president clear power to “waive the application of any sanctions provision” for foreign individuals. Trump used that lever before the new rules could bite.
The Washington Examiner reported the executive order puts the sweeping Russia sanctions and tariffs on hold indefinitely, with the White House again pointing to the national interests of the United States.
That sequence matches a familiar pattern of fast presidential directives that reset the field and force both parties to respond, much like other recent moves that left opponents scrambling to catch up after Trump signaled he could still pursue long-running political targets.
National Review noted the waiver of 100% tariffs and related sanctions came just three weeks after the signing ceremony, again under the national-interest rationale.
National Review framed the step as part of a broader fight over Russia policy, while the White House kept the focus on domestic fuel costs and the statutory waiver path Congress left open.
Last week, Trump struck an agreement permitting Russia to sell diesel into the U.S. and world market. Under that arrangement, he said Russia could “immediately” begin supplying 300,000 tons of diesel, another 500,000 tons in November, and then one million tons “immediately thereafter.”
The administration’s public case ties the energy opening and the sanctions waiver to the same goal: relief at the pump while American forces are engaged in Iran and fuel prices have climbed.
Supporters of hard-edged executive action on borders and markets often cheer when the White House moves first and explains the national-interest case later, a dynamic also visible when Republicans cheered fresh White House immigration data showing a sharp policy shift.
Critics on Capitol Hill cast the diesel license and the Graham Act waiver as a reopening of Russian energy cash flow. The White House casts both as lawful tools to defend American household budgets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back in a Wednesday interview with Piers Morgan. He said he felt “betrayed” by the president’s decision.
He also narrowed the point beyond personal reaction:
"It’s more complicated than just my emotions or just my feelings,"
Zelensky continued:
"Yes, it depends not on me. Our country has to survive."
Those lines sit alongside the White House claim that the waiver protects U.S. national interests during a period of elevated fuel costs. Kyiv’s wartime needs and Washington’s price pressure are not the same ledger.
Backlash was not limited to Democrats. Five Republican lawmakers joined Democratic colleagues in denouncing the energy relief and sent a Thursday letter to the Trump administration.
The letter said:
"We urge the Administration to revoke this license and not issue further general licenses that reopen Russian energy transactions and restore revenue to the Kremlin’s war chest,"
The Hill’s account did not name the five Republicans or the Democrats who signed on. The demand centers on revoking “this license” and blocking further general licenses for Russian energy deals.
Party discipline around Trump-era foreign policy has rarely been automatic, and intra-GOP friction of this kind often lands in the same arena as campaign-season warnings about turnout and message control, including arguments like those raised when Brit Hume cautioned that a midterm washout remains possible.
Even so, the legal mechanics are straightforward. Congress passed a sanctions package that expressly lets the president waive provisions. Trump signed that package, then used the waiver, then certified the national-interest finding back to Congress.
That is the process the statute created. Lawmakers who now want the license yanked are asking the administration to reverse a power they put in the text.
Trump’s order pairs two claims: the Graham Act tools are waived, and the waiver is in the national interests of the United States. The public timing lines up with the diesel tonnage schedule and with the administration’s wider effort to ease fuel costs during the Iran conflict.
None of the source accounts describe injuries, arrests, or market shutdowns from the order itself. The immediate fight is political and diplomatic, Capitol Hill letters, Kyiv’s reaction, and the argument over whether Russian diesel barrels help American drivers more than they help Moscow’s ledger.
Republican dissent of this type also echoes other high-profile clashes in which Senate Republicans have pressed officials hard while defending their own institutional role, a tension familiar from coverage of Senate Republicans confronting Jack Smith over Trump-related cases.
Open questions remain in the public record. The Hill did not publish the full roster of letter signers, the precise calendar dates behind “last month” and “last week,” or a line-by-line map of every Graham Act clause covered by “such sanctions, restrictions, and duties.” The White House has not been quoted with a longer legal memo beyond the order’s core waiver and certification language.
What is on the record is the sequence. Congress built a waiver. The president used it. He told Congress it serves the national interest. Fuel-price relief is the administration’s stated domestic aim. Zelensky and a bipartisan group of lawmakers object. The sanctions package that was supposed to tighten the screws on Russian energy revenue is, for now, on hold.
American drivers do not pay the Kremlin’s bills, they pay the pump. A president who uses the waiver Congress wrote, certifies the national interest, and keeps the focus on fuel costs is doing the job voters hired him to do.