Trump Waives Most New Russia Sanctions and Tariffs a Day Before They Were Due to Start

Updated 02:08 UTC, Oct 19, 2026. President Donald Trump defended the sanctions waiver on Truth Social on Sunday, Oct 18, saying he is negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine and does not want to drive Russia away from the bargaining table. "My decision on Russia is a very simple one," he wrote. "Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!" He did not say which captives he meant. Trump said he could sign the suspended measures later, or at any time he wants, and argued that Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help Iran, and he wants to keep it that way. He attacked President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying Zelenskyy does not want to end this war and probably never did, could have made a better deal two years ago, and he blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for hurting diesel markets and American farmers, ranchers and businesses. Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended the separate easing on Russian diesel as a move to encourage Moscow to scale back the war, not as an economic lifeline for Russia. Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the waiver as an important and truly historic moment. Zelenskyy, on NBC News Meet the Press on Sunday, warned that siding with President Vladimir Putin would be a historic mistake.

Updated 06:19 UTC, Oct 18, 2026. President Trump said on Saturday that he has not announced a final decision on the Russia sanctions he waived a day earlier, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the president will take up to 60 days to weigh the economic impact before deciding what comes next, Reuters reported. "A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Rubio, speaking before boarding a plane for Uzbekistan, said the point of the pause is to study what the sanctions and the linked tariffs would do to the global economy and to the US economy. He pointed to India, an important US partner that has diversified its energy supplies but still depends heavily on Russian oil, and said countries cannot pivot away from a supplier overnight. The waiver, signed on Friday, stopped measures that were due to take effect next week, weeks before the November midterm elections, with Trump under pressure over high energy prices as the war with Iran disrupts global oil supplies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had already condemned the waiver, warning it would embolden President Vladimir Putin.

Updated 14:10 UTC, Oct 17, 2026. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the waiver on Saturday, calling it a US sanctions blackout that eases pressure on Russia and only encourages President Vladimir Putin to keep attacking. In a post on X on Saturday morning, Zelenskyy linked the decision to the overnight Russian attack on Ukraine's energy sector, in which he said more than 320 drones were used along with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against power plants, cities and communities. He said the Graham Act was supposed to impose real pressure on Russia to bring the war to an end, called the decision to set it aside unfortunate, and urged people to speak out in support of the sanctions. AP reported that he hoped the sanctions could still be revived. Zelenskyy also told reporters on Saturday that he believed the lifting of sanctions would continue, and that the Russian diesel deal was just the first step. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who helped draft the law, accused President Donald Trump of turning his back on Congress and on European allies, and said the waivers had nothing to do with US national security.

WASHINGTON. President Donald Trump has waived most of the new sanctions, restrictions and duties in the Russia sanctions law he signed last month, days before the measures were due to take effect.

The executive order, titled Implementing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 and dated October 16, was released by the White House on Friday. Trump said he had sent Congress a written certification that the waiver is in the national interests of the United States, with a report explaining the basis for it, as section 115 of the act requires.

What the order sets aside

Section 4 of the order waives any duties provided for in sections 112 and 113 of the act, or in the order itself. It also waives the sanctions provision in section 102(d), and a long list of other provisions: sections 102(a), 102(e), 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111 and 117.

Without the waiver, the order itself sets out steep rates. Goods from Russia would face a duty increase of 500 percent. Goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas would face a 100 percent increase if those countries knowingly make new purchases of Russian oil or gas on or after October 18, 2026. Goods from the top five facilitators of Russian oil sanctions evasion would also face a 100 percent increase. Reuters reported the law would have imposed tariffs of up to 100 percent within 30 days on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas. A Baker McKenzie briefing notes that most of the act's measures were to be imposed within 30 days of enactment, by October 18, 2026.

The waivers stay in effect until the president, or the secretary of state in consultation with the Treasury secretary and the trade representative, decides further action is appropriate.

What stays in place

The order is careful on one point. Nothing in it affects sanctions under earlier executive orders on harmful foreign activities of the Russian government, including the national emergency Trump continued on March 24, 2026, as those measures stood the day before the Graham Act became law. People sanctioned under those older orders stay sanctioned.

The order also keeps a monitoring system running. The United States trade representative, working with the secretaries of state, the Treasury and energy, must track which countries buy Russian crude oil and natural gas, watch for sanctions evasion, and report back to the president, including on whether the waivers should change.

Why it matters now

The law is named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, its primary backer in Congress, and Trump signed it on September 18, 2026. It wrote a tougher Russia sanctions policy into statute, then gave the president a broad power to waive it. Trump has now used that power for most of the law before its first duties and sanctions took hold.

Reuters reported that the move comes as Trump has been warming toward Russia and publicly criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, including suggesting that Ukraine needs a new leader. Countries such as India, among the biggest buyers of Russian oil, had raised concerns about the bill, Reuters said.

For importers and for governments buying Russian energy, the result is simple. The new Graham Act duties will not be collected while the waiver stands, and the new Graham Act sanctions will not be applied. The older sanctions system, built by executive order over several years, remains the one in force.