Russia sanctions are moving again in Washington — and Trump says he's on board
The US Senate reached a deal with the White House on the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, with tariffs of up to 100% on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas.
After months stuck in the mud, the Russia sanctions package is moving again in Washington — and this time with the White House on board. A bipartisan group of senators reached agreement with the administration on a revised version of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, and Trump confirmed this week that he supports the bill.
What does the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 actually do?
The heart of the text is so-called secondary sanctions: rather than punishing only Moscow, the bill authorises the president to slap tariffs on those still financing the war by buying Russian energy. The original version talked about 500% tariffs on everyone; the revision is more surgical — up to 100%, aimed at the five biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas, a group its sponsors say includes China and India. The bill counts more than 26 co-sponsors from both parties, and the official announcement of the deal is published on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s site.
The bill also carries unusual symbolic weight: one of its main architects, Senator Lindsey Graham, died suddenly days ago, and colleagues on both sides now treat its passage as a tribute to his legacy. In politics, few forces speed up a bill quite like that one.
What changes for Europe and Portugal?
If it passes, the effect will be felt mostly in energy prices and the trade chessboard — tariffs at that scale on Russian oil’s biggest customers move global flows, and Europe, which has spent years weaning itself off Moscow’s gas, has everything to gain from a squeeze that finally reaches other people’s buyers too. The moment is hardly neutral: the war keeps producing political shocks from Kyiv to Washington, and London has already shown Western involvement is escalating, promising Ukraine longer-range missiles.
The hardest part remains: turning the deal into a vote, and the vote into law. But after months in which the file looked dead, that is the news — in Washington, there’s a hurry again.
Image: Rob Young from United Kingdom / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
