President Donald Trump wants to keep control of U.S. efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, asking Senate leadership to walk back plans for a sanctions bill to penalize the Kremlin.
Earlier this month, Senate leadership expressed intent to pass legislation that would slap a 500% tariff on Russian gas and oil imports. The bill garnered bipartisan support from over 80 senators, well over the 51 votes needed to pass legislation through Congress’ upper chamber.
But the Senate’s plans reversed course after Trump signaled he wants to work with Russia unilaterally on a peace deal rather than pursuing a sanctions bill in Congress. Republican leadership heeded to Trump’s request and indicated they are tabling the bill for now.
“We want to work with him and be partners on that,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And when he green lights the legislation, we’ll move forward with it.”
When asked Wednesday about Trump’s decision, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Center Square that the president reserves the power to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin autonomously as commander-in-chief.
“Any decisions that are made with respect to sanctions, the president wants to reserve that authority and that right to himself,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the White House has worked closely with Senate leadership on this issue and did not rule out revisiting a sanctions bill down the line.
Trump has opted to approach a ceasefire with Russia diplomatically thus far. When he lashed out at Putin during a cabinet meeting earlier this month, however, Senate Republicans took the cue to ramp up economic pressure on Russia.
However, after asking the Senate to scale back sanctions efforts, Trump appears to be leaning on his threats to impose tariffs on Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days.
With Congress breaking for their month-long recess this week, any sanctions legislation could not be revisited until September at the earliest.
