WASHINGTON (August 25, 2026) — Today, Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) experts on Ukraine, trade policy and national security issued the following statement on the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, applauding the additional financial and energy-market pressure the bill may put on Russia, but criticizing its very broad tariff authority and arguing that it should either be dropped or sharply circumscribed.
PPI’s Kyiv-based New Ukraine Project Director Tamar Jacoby, who offered extensive assessment of the bill in the Washington Monthly, said:
“Nearly five years of war — including a summer of spectacular Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries — have done serious damage to the Russian economy. The US can and should be doing more to help raise the cost for the Kremlin, and the Graham bill makes an important start. Now the House has an opportunity to improve the package by clarifying what Trump can and cannot do to implement it — strengthening the sanctions provisions while limiting the all-but unchecked tariff authority it hands the president.”
PPI Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets Ed Gresser said:
“With Russia’s military exhausted from its four-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Congress is right to increase economic pressure on Russia and countries supporting it. The bill’s financial and other sanctions are good steps. We can and should go further by banning Russian fertilizer — the U.S.’s major remaining import from Russia, now running at an average of $200 million a month this year. By contrast, the bill’s tariff section is unnecessary — the administration already has sanctions power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — and dangerous. Unchecked authority to impose new tariffs on vague grounds, after the administration’s extensive and continuing misuse of laws such as Section 301 and Section 232, poses a high risk that Mr. Trump would use it not to pressure Russia but to further harass America’s neighbors and allies, and impose more costs on the American economy. Last Thursday’s fiasco with Canada — a totally unnecessary breach with a friendly neighbor, with tariffs likely to cost Americans billions of dollars this fall — is a case in point. If this final bill is to include any tariff authority at all, therefore, the House should at minimum revise it to require a final Congressional vote of approval for any tariff increase on any country.”
PPI Director of National Security Policy Danielle Steitz said:
“The brave citizens of Ukraine have spent more than four years defending their nation from Russia’s illegal invasion, and it is heartening to see the U.S. Congress continue to send clear bipartisan signals of support. However, it is undeniable that President Trump has demonstrated his disregard of congressional intent time and time again, particularly around the topic of support to Ukraine. Just last month it was reported that the Department of Defense will not finish spending the $400 million that Congress authorized for Ukraine military assistance until fiscal year 2029, an unacceptable slow-rolling of aid that has rightly sparked bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill. Instead of hoping that this time will be different, the House should adopt common-sense guardrails asserting Congress’s tariff powers and making its intent crystal clear: that this legislation’s purpose is to impose costs on Russia and to support Ukraine.”
Background: The Senate passed S. 5025, the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, on August 6, 2026, and the House of Representatives is preparing to consider it after its return from the August recess. The bill imposes new sanctions on Russian officials, businesses, and financial service providers, bans imports of Russian uranium (though not fertilizer, the largest single U.S. import from Russia). It also provides the Trump administration authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on goods from three sets of countries: the five largest buyers of Russian oil, the five largest buyers of Russian natural gas, and the five countries most involved in helping Russia in some unspecified way avoid sanctions. With the House vote likely in early fall, PPI experts and Ukraine-watchers argue that while strengthening sanctions on Russia is urgent, the bill’s nearly unlimited tariff authority is unnecessary and invites further abuse by the Trump administration. They urge the House to make significant changes to the tariff section, and tighten U.S. sanctions further, before passage.
Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us at @ppi.
###
Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org
