Yesterday Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that his bill is “going to have to wait a bit,” that would hit countries with a 500% tariff, if they are not actively supporting Ukraine, and if they buy Russian gas or oil. This bill certainly targets India and China, but also some European countries. According to Semafor, there had been a push to pass the bill, prior to the June 16-17 G7 summit in Canada. But it didn’t work out.
President Trump stated at the summit on June 16, “When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money—a tremendous amount of money. It’s not just, let’s sign a document. You’re talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It’s not just a one-way street.”
When Graham yesterday announced the pause in his bazooka bill, he did not reference Trump’s comment the day before, but rather blamed the failure to push it forward on the disruption on June 13 of the Israel-Iran conflict. But the Senator offered, “That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about Russia or Ukraine. Not at all.” Also yesterday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggested that the new timing for the bill should be a “July timeframe,” as reported by Senator. Graham.