IBNS-CMEDIA: A bipartisan group of US senators has unveiled a new sanctions bill proposing tariffs of up to 100 percent on exports from India, China and three other countries over their purchases of Russian oil, media reports said.
The bill has reportedly received the backing of the White House.
According to media reports, the legislation, championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, is expected to move towards what Senate aides have described as a likely successful vote after the White House agreed to its terms on Friday.
The proposed legislation is seen as a softened version of the Sanctioning Russia Act, which was introduced in the Senate in April last year and sought to impose tariffs of up to 500 percent on countries purchasing Russian energy, including India.
However, the earlier version failed to make progress in the Senate.
Speaking about the latest bill, Senator Richard Blumenthal was quoted by ABC News as saying: “With all due respect to the president, he has approved this bill, and we should move forward with this bill rather than opening it, in my view, to other potential targets. If there are other bills that he wants to propose, we’ll consider them, but I think this bill has been negotiated over almost two years, painstakingly, sometimes painfully, at great length.”
“When Senator Graham and I last spoke, he was absolutely exultant, calling from Kyiv with news that President Trump would support this bill to impose scorching tariffs and sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil and stop them from fueling Putin’s war machine,” Blumenthal said.
“Now is the time to push Russia toward peace. Ukraine is gaining net territory and reaching deep into Russia with its drones and missiles. Sanctions provide a path toward peace,” he added.
When asked on Tuesday if he supported the bill, Trump was quoted as saying by ABC News: ” I know that Lindsey wanted it very badly. I think they may be adding Iran to it. They’re going to add Iran, which is a very big thing. If they did that, they may add Hezbollah.”
