ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
A bipartisan bill championed by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is moving through the U.S. Senate. If passed, it would further isolate Russia from the global economy. It would also grant the president new tariff authority, and that concerns some Democrats who say President Trump’s expansive use of tariffs earlier in his term helped drive the cost of living higher. NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel is here to talk about this. Hey, Eric.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Hey, Rob, how are you?
SCHMITZ: So, Eric, what would this bill do?
MCDANIEL: Well, the real central part of the bill is that tariff authority, this new tariff authority for the administration – 100% on the top importers of Russian oil and gas. That would be India, China, probably Turkey as well. The list depends exactly on, you know, how this is eventually measured. But…
SCHMITZ: OK.
MCDANIEL: One thing’s pretty clear. The goal is to further stifle the Russian economy as Ukraine continues its war effort.
SCHMITZ: Now, this was championed by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. The White House has agreed to the bill in principle. What hurdles remain for this?
MCDANIEL: Look, I’d say it has momentum, in part because of the enthusiasm around the legislation as a kind of capstone project of the late Senator Graham. I will say, it’s not going to be finalized for sure until after Labor Day. The House of Representatives has, of course, already left town, and the Senate needs a unanimous agreement to proceed if they want to pass this before they leave town next week, or at least that’s the plan. And that would require some assurances for Senate Democrats about how the president can impose these tariffs, concerns shared by some Democrats in the House.
SCHMITZ: So this may not pass until September. If this did pass and get implemented, what would happen next?
MCDANIEL: You know, in theory, it would provide more leverage to bring to bear against Russia in any future diplomatic negotiations to end the war at a time the country’s war effort is already kind of foundering on the battlefield. But that depends a lot on enforcement and implementation of these sanctions, according to Maia Nikoladze of the Atlantic Council. That’s a think tank here in Washington. If this passes and the administration imposes tariffs on India over their Russian energy imports, well, it could actually be pretty complicated. We saw this play out last year when the U.S. tried to pressure India to stop buying Russian oil. Here’s Nikoladze.
MAIA NIKOLADZE: India was on the diversification path following these sanctions in October 2025. But then again, the – you know, the conflict breaks out in the Middle East, and that’s what got in the way.
MCDANIEL: The president’s war with Iran made finding alternative sources of energy much harder for India. As for China – also a major Russian energy purchaser – we know how they respond to trade pressure from the U.S. We’ve seen this movie before.
NIKOLADZE: Whenever the U.S. is imposing tariffs or increasing economic pressure on China, China responds with countermeasures. And I think in this case, this is how Beijing will likely respond.
MCDANIEL: That means their own tariffs on things like raw materials that go into computer chips, which are already in the midst of an AI-driven price spike.
SCHMITZ: OK, so you’ve mentioned India, China. How will this resonate for Americans?
MCDANIEL: Well, Trump famously promised to end the Russian-Ukraine war on Day 1. That didn’t happen. He had kind of a nothingburger summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last year that resulted in no visible progress. The war in Iran has also helped to drive up costs here in the U.S.
If Trump can bring either of these wars to an end, it might help shore up perceptions of his ability to be an effective leader on the world stage and stabilize prices here at home ahead of the midterms. But if this backfires and drives things like retaliatory tariffs and things get even more expensive, you’ll have a big pitch (ph) – a pinch for people right before they go to cast their ballots this fall.
SCHMITZ: That is NPR congressional reporter Eric McDaniel. Eric, thank you.
MCDANIEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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