Washington: The US House of Representatives passed a bill that would authorise President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on its trading partners in oil and gas, including India and China.
The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, passed by the US Senate last month, was approved by the House in a 262-159 vote on Wednesday evening and will now go to Trump to be signed into law.
Besides 203 Republicans, 58 Democrats and one Independent voted in favour of the legislation. Seven Republicans and 152 Democrats opposed it.
The legislation, championed by late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away in July, authorises Trump to impose up to 100 per cent tariffs on the five largest importers of Russian oil and natural gas, expanding his favourite tactic of slapping tariffs to maximise leverage and retribution.
The bill would also impose additional measures on Russia’s energy and defence sectors and its fleet of tankers used to circumvent existing sanctions, while slapping more sanctions on Iran.
Both sides are expected to finalise the summit’s likely economic outcomes, including tariff reductions on agricultural trade, while extending the fragile trade truce reached in October last year, the South China Morning Post earlier reported.
Bessent was responding to a question about the alleged role of Chinese banks in facilitating commercial transactions with Iran and whether Washington planned to take action against them.
During his second term, Trump has tested the limits of his executive authority and used tariffs extensively to pursue both political and economic objectives, including pressuring trading partners to change policies and advancing economic interests.
“Does anyone seriously believe President Trump will not use this broad language to target whichever government he is personally angry at?”
The administration is also expected to slap additional duties on 16 economies, including China, India, Japan and South Korea, following another Section 301 probe into industrial capacity.
Trump also invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose 50 per cent tariffs on a range of Canadian goods last month after trade talks with Ottawa collapsed at the last minute.
The obscure 1930 trade enforcement provision, passed at the height of Depression-era protectionism, had never been used before and, in theory, gives Trump broader, faster and less restricted authority to levy tariffs than almost any other trade statute on the books.
Washington’s growing reliance on tariffs and sanctions is also prompting targeted countries to seek workarounds and reduce their dependence on the US-led global financial architecture.
Brics is an 11-nation grouping that includes China, India, Russia and Iran, spans four continents and represents nearly half of the world’s population.
The 45-page declaration said the group’s Payment Task Force had studied “cross-border interoperability of payment and messaging channels” and held talks on using local currencies for “trade settlements and investments”.
