Date saved: 2026-10-20 11:00 (PDT)
Sources: Reuters, ABC News, CNBC, AP, European Commission, Politico
On Friday, Oct. 16, President Trump signed an executive order waiving every operative Russia section of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (a law he signed himself on Sept. 18), just two days before its 500% tariffs on Russian goods and 100% tariffs on the biggest buyers of Russian oil were set to take effect. He certified it as in the national interest, and set no expiry, leaving reinstatement to his own discretion or the secretary of state’s, ABC News reported. At Mar-a-Lago the next day, Trump said, "A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out." Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a 60-day economic review, a framing the order does not contain.
The victims are not abstract: the same night Ukraine reeled from 28 struck substations and 550,000 households without power, the revenue pipelines this law was written to strangle were being opened by the man who signed it.
From signing to waiver in six weeks
The sequence matters. Trump signed the Graham Act on Sept. 18 under bipartisan pressure to punish Moscow for the war, the International Business Times reported. On Oct. 9, his call with Vladimir Putin produced a diesel deal; Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control then issued a general licence covering diesel loaded from that date through April 7, 2027 (the first diesel waiver beyond the usual 30-day window since 2022, Brussels Signal reported. Trump has demanded Ukraine stop striking the Russian refineries he blames for high fuel prices weeks before the U.S. midterms. On Oct. 16 came the order, which per ABC News waived not only the 500% duties and tariffs on top-five Russian-oil buyers such as China and India (CNBC), but sanctions on foreign banks dealing with Russian state banks, bans on Russian sovereign-debt purchases) and, critically, the requirement that existing sanctions stay in place, clearing the way for easing those too, plus the clause allowing termination only after a Ukraine-accepted peace deal.
Congress is furious and powerless until after Election Day: the AP reported that members of both parties see no quick counter, with House and Senate in recess until the midterms are over.
Europe alone, with the largest sanctions list it has ever written
While Washington dismantled its pressure campaign, the European Union was tightening one. On Oct. 12 the Council adopted the 22nd package (1,569 listings: 826 Russian companies and 743 individual CEOs, more than half tied to the ballistic-missile supply chain, bringing the total under the Ukraine regime to close to 4,600) the European Commission said. The listed suppliers generate at least €20 billion a year and employ over 250,000 people. "This is the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war," foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, as Politico reported. That unity has already cost: oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman were quietly removed from the list last month to keep the regime from lapsing.
Two days before Trump’s waiver, the European Council wrote down its displeasure in its Oct. 15-16 conclusions: “the European Council regrets the United States’ decision to temporarily lift sanctions on Russian diesel.” A Commission spokeswoman told reporters on Oct. 19 the EU “will not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war.” Italy's Giorgia Meloni warned the diesel arrangement hands Moscow legitimacy and revenue, Brussels Signal reported. The same briefing also confirmed the administration has proposed Europe resume purchases of Russian natural gas as part of a peace settlement, the Commission answered only by restating its regret.
Opposition exists but cannot move: Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on House Foreign Affairs, introduced the bipartisan Prohibit Corrupt Russia Oil Deals Act on Oct. 16, which would nullify the Treasury licences, bar the Development Finance Corporation from investing in Russian energy and mandate sanctions. It has 16 Democratic co-sponsors plus Republican Rep. Don Bacon, Politico reported, and cannot pass while Congress is away.
What the official story leaves out
Rubio's "60-day review" is a claim by an interested party about a document that says something else: the order has no deadline at all. The national-interest certification is the president's own, addressed to a Congress that cannot examine it until after Nov. 3, and the inspectors general who might normally scrutinize such waivers were fired in January. The economic rationale is a mirror: fuel prices are high because a war is on, and this waiver protects the revenue funding it. A policy cannot both punish an invasion and pay the invader, no matter how it is certified.
What readers can do
- Every member of Congress is home campaigning until after the election. Ask them on the record: will you vote to overturn the Russia diesel licences and back the Prohibit Corrupt Russia Oil Deals Act? Town-hall season is the one moment these votes are cheap to promise and expensive to dodge.
- Read the primary documents yourself: the European Council conclusions and the EU’s 22nd-package announcement are public, and the only versions of these numbers not written by the administration waiving the sanctions.
- A public record of citizen inquiries to OFAC about the Russian diesel licence is something reporters can cite when the 60 days quietly become a year.
Source links
- Reuters - Rubio says Trump to take up to 60 days to weigh Russia sanctions
- ABC News - Trump signs order waiving Graham Act sanctions on Russia
- CNBC - Trump waives broad new Russia sanctions and tariffs under Graham Act, citing national interest
- AP - Trump's decision to waive Russian sanctions outrages Congress, but no quick counter seen
- European Commission - EU adopts largest-ever package of listings against Russia
- Politico - EU approves biggest Russia sanctions package since invasion began
- European Commission - Midday press briefing of 19/10/2026
- Politico - House Democrat introduces bipartisan bill to block Trump's Russian diesel deal
- International Business Times - Trump Waives New Russia Sanctions as Rubio Cites 60-Day Review
- Brussels Signal - EU leaders back Zelensky over diesel deal but offer no new money