US President Donald Trump issued a warning that any nation continuing commercial ties with Russia will be “very severely sanctioned".
Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Trump was asked whether Congress should move ahead with legislation designed to escalate pressure on Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
In Congress, momentum is building behind a bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham that seeks to impose a 500 per cent tariff on secondary transactions involving Russian oil.
US President Donald Trump issued a warning that any nation continuing commercial ties with Russia will be “very severely sanctioned,” as the White House and Republican lawmakers press forward with a new round of hard-line measures targeting Moscow.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday, Trump was asked whether Congress should move ahead with legislation designed to escalate pressure on Russia and President Vladimir Putin. “I hear they're doing that, and that’s okay with me,” he responded. “They're passing legislation... the Republicans are putting in legislation... very tough sanctioning... on any country doing business with Russia. They may add Iran to that... I suggested it,” he added.
Reinforcing his position, Trump repeated: “So any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned. We may add Iran to the formula.”
US tariffs under Trump’s administration already include a 50 per cent duty on India, one of the steepest globally, along with a 25 per cent levy tied to India’s purchases of Russian energy.
In Congress, momentum is building behind a bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham that seeks to impose a 500 per cent tariff on secondary transactions involving Russian oil. The measure has secured broad support within the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Graham, along with Senator Richard Blumenthal, has also put forward the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025. The proposal would implement secondary tariffs and penalties on “countries that continue to fund Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine,” and has drawn 85 Senate cosponsors.
In a joint statement released in July, the two senators said, “President Trump and his team have made a powerful move, implementing a new approach to end this bloodbath between Russia and Ukraine... However, the ultimate hammer to bring about the end of this war will be tariffs against countries, like China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin’s war machine by purchasing cheap Russian oil and gas.”
