Trump waives Russia sanctions days before they kick in, citing "national interests"

The order

In an executive order released by the White House on Friday night, President Donald Trump waived key Russia-related U.S. sanctions and tariffs days before they were due to take effect under a law he signed last month, Reuters reported. The order said the waiver would remain in effect until Trump or his top officials determine that "further action is appropriate."

The law, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, would have imposed tariffs of up to 100 percent on all goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, Reuters reported, as well as penalties for countries that knowingly buy Russian oil and gas. Trump signed the legislation in mid-September, and the measures were set to begin taking effect within days.

Why he paused them

Trump said in the order that he had submitted a certification to Congress that the waiver was in the national interests of the United States. The move comes weeks before U.S. midterm elections in which Trump's Republicans are fighting to keep their narrow grip on both chambers of Congress, and analysts have warned the new measures could have pushed oil prices higher at a moment when Americans are already paying more at the pump, Reuters reported.

Bloomberg reported that the waiver complicates his push to lower diesel prices ahead of the vote. It also follows Trump's announcement of a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring Russian diesel onto global markets — a move allies criticized and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as a gift to Moscow, the BBC reported.

The backlash

The decision drew swift criticism from lawmakers who backed the law. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers wrote to Trump urging him to respect the legislation and implement it fully and without delay, arguing the sanctions would be decisive in pushing Putin toward peace talks, the BBC reported.

The waiver arrives amid a deepening public rift between Trump and Zelensky. Trump has suggested Kyiv needs new leadership and called the Ukrainian president harder to deal with than Putin, while European leaders rallied around Zelensky at a Brussels summit on Friday.

The Canadian angle

For Canada, the waiver reshuffles the energy-price math at a delicate moment. Canada is both a major crude exporter and one of Ukraine's staunchest sanctions supporters, and sanctions relief on Russian oil could ease the supply pressure that has kept prices elevated — or, if Moscow earns more export revenue, hand the Kremlin exactly the windfall Western sanctions were designed to deny.

The oil-price question also feeds straight into the Bank of Canada's Oct. 28 rate decision. Statistics Canada's September inflation report showed gasoline prices up 9.1 percent in a single month, and Governor Tiff Macklem said this week that the longer the bank has to "look through" stubborn energy prices, the harder that gets.