House sends Trump a Russia sanctions bill with 100% tariff power

The House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by 262 votes to 159 on 16 September and sent it to President Donald Trump. The Senate had approved the same 61-page text 86-11 last month. Trump has said he will sign it. The vote came on the last sitting day before House members leave Washington to campaign for the midterm elections.

The centre of the bill is a new tariff tool. The president may impose duties of up to 100 percent on countries that rank among the top five purchasers of Russian oil or natural gas, and on those that help run the “shadow fleet” of tankers used to move Russian crude around existing restrictions. China and India are the two largest buyers of Russian crude, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. A carve-out exists for countries that take less than 15 percent of their gas from Russia and that are taking significant steps to cut those imports. An earlier draft had spoken of 500 percent tariffs. The enacted version is the lower figure.

The act also mandates sanctions on Russian political and military officials, oligarchs, banks and financial institutions, and on foreign networks that supply the war in Ukraine or help evade existing measures. It extends, for five years, sanctions that target Iran’s energy and weapons sectors. The dual heading reflects the military link Congress sees between Moscow and Tehran.

The roll call split both parties. Two hundred and three Republicans, 58 Democrats and one Independent voted yes. Seven Republicans and 152 Democrats voted no. Democratic leaders opposed the bill because it hands more tariff authority to a president who has already used tariffs outside the usual Congressional track. Representative Hakeem Jeffries argued that living costs in the United States are already too high. Republican isolationists joined that camp for a different reason: they do not want another sanctions machine pointed at a war they would rather leave.

The bill carries Lindsey Graham’s name because the South Carolina senator spent more than a year building support for it before his death in July. Trump had delayed the measure for months, preferring to keep sanctions and tariff decisions in his own hands. The final text leaves the 100 percent tariff as a presidential option, not an automatic trigger. That design is why some Democrats voted no even while supporting pressure on Russia, and why Trump can sign the bill without surrendering discretion.

If he uses the authority, the first commercial question is India. New Delhi has bought large volumes of discounted Russian crude since 2022. A 100 percent tariff on Indian goods would be a different instrument from the existing tariff fights of the past year. China faces the same exposure. The Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that the 100 percent cap replaced the 500 percent figure and added the 15 percent gas carve-out. The Atlantic Council framed the China piece as a bet that tariffs can force a cut in Russian oil purchases.

Nothing in the statute requires Trump to fire that tool. Signing it gives him a Congressional warrant he can wave at Beijing and New Delhi, or leave in the drawer. Ukraine’s government will treat the vote as a signal that Congress has not walked away from the war’s financing fight. Energy traders will watch the implementing regulations, the definition of “top five” and the evidence standard for “significant steps” to reduce Russian supply. Those details, not the 262-159 headline, will decide whether the act changes cargoes or only speeches.