US Cuts Proposed Russia Tariff to 100%, Eases Pressure on India

In a major relief to India, the United States Senate has watered down its proposed Russia sanctions legislation, easing concerns for countries such as India that continue to import Russian oil. From 500 per cent, the revised bill reduces the maximum tariff to 100 per cent while restricting the sanctions to only five largest buyers of the Russian crude oil and natural gas.

First introduced in April 2025, the earlier draft of the Sanctioning Russia Act proposed sweeping tariffs on all countries purchasing Russian energy. late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away days ago, had pushed the bill along with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Just a day before his demise, Graham had got President Donald Trump's backing to move the bill forward after months of negotiations.

According to Senate aides, the proposal already has the support of 26 co-sponsors, with more lawmakers expected to join. One notable aspect of the revised bill is that it does not target every country but focuses mainly on the five biggest importers of Russian oil and natural gas.

"It's been referred to as a tariffs bill, but actually it imposes full blocking sanctions on wide swaths of the Russian economy, including its energy industry, financial industry, defence industrial base, oligarchs, business people, and Vladimir Putin himself," PTI quoted Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut, as telling reporters on Tuesday.

Blumenthal said the legislation would allow tariffs of up to 100 per cent, while giving the President limited powers to grant exemptions. He identified China, India, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan as the countries currently covered by the proposal.

Also, Countries purchasing less than 15 per cent of Russia's natural gas exports would be exempt if they are taking credible steps to reduce those imports. Senate officials said Japan, France, Belgium and Hungary are among those that could qualify.

Although the tariff proposal has been diluted, the bill retains a broad package of sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow.

The measures target Russia's energy, defence, banking and industrial sectors. They also seek to curb the operations of the so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers used to transport Russian crude outside Western shipping and insurance networks.

The legislation further proposes sanctions against the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and major energy projects, including Yamal LNG and the Arctic LNG developments.

As in the earlier draft, the bill allows President Trump to suspend sanctions if he determines that doing so serves US national interests.

How the Proposal has Changed

The original version of the bill had proposed some of the toughest secondary sanctions ever considered by the US Congress. It called for tariffs of up to 500 per cent on imports from countries that knowingly bought Russian oil, natural gas, uranium or other petroleum products.

That proposal was widely seen as targeting major buyers such as India, China and Brazil, all of which continued importing discounted Russian crude oil despite Western sanctions on Moscow.

It also included a separate provision seeking a 500 per cent duty on imports from countries involved in the trade of Russian-origin uranium and petroleum products.

Blumenthal stated "our European allies are not targeted here". "It is very important to understand that we have so narrowly crafted and tailored and targeted this bill to aim at the major purchaser of Russian oil and gas."