Trump plans to sign Russia sanctions bill after Congress approval, says White House official

Washington DC [US], September 17 (ANI): US President Donald Trump plans to sign a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia and Iran, a White House official has told ANI, after the legislation cleared both chambers of Congress.
“The President plans to sign the bill,” a White House official told ANI, though the official did not specify a timeline for the signing.
The bill, officially named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 262-159, having already cleared the Senate last month. It now heads to the President’s desk. The legislation gives Trump discretion to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that continue buying Russian oil and gas, including India and China, though it does not trigger the levies automatically.
The bill arrives at a difficult moment for US-India trade relations. Washington imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods in August, tied explicitly to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, pushing total levies on some Indian exports to 50%.
India’s Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, defended the country’s energy policy shortly after Congress passed the bill, describing India’s energy sourcing as a “fundamental national responsibility” rather than a matter of geopolitical alignment.
Kwatra noted that India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and its third-largest energy consumer, yet its per capita energy use remains far below the global average.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the government was “monitoring further developments” and remained committed to energy security through diversified sourcing, adding that it would work with domestic trade and industry bodies to manage the fallout.
The bill’s passage comes against a backdrop of legal setbacks for the Trump administration’s broader tariff agenda. The US Supreme Court invalidated a wider set of tariffs in February, and a federal court struck down a 10% blanket global tariff in May. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has since introduced a separate resolution seeking to unwind those measures.
Meanwhile, the US and India are continuing negotiations toward a bilateral trade agreement, with further talks expected on the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting in Wisconsin later this month. (ANI)