Trump speaks contradictorily about chances of passing bill on sanctions against Russia

WASHINGTON, July 14. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump called the chances of passing the bill being finalized in the US Congress to tighten unilateral sanctions against Russia high, but at the same time noted that key provisions of the document had not been discussed with him and that he needs to review them.

"There's a good chance that it gets done," Trump said at first, commenting at a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zeidi at the White House at journalists' request on the prospects for the bill's passage. At the same time, Trump did not confirm Washington's readiness to impose secondary sanctions on Russia's trading partners, including India and China. This is precisely one of the key provisions of the bill. "We'll have to look. That hasn't been discussed," the US leader stressed.

He recalled that one of the main initiators of the bill was Senator Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), who died suddenly on July 11 at the age of 71. "I know that Lindsey wanted it very badly. <...> So we're looking at that. <...> And this is in honor of Lindsey. This was his thing. He wanted this more than any other thing," Trump said.

The bill was introduced in early April 2025 by a bipartisan group of Senators. The main authors of the document were Graham and Richard Blumenthal. The initiative includes secondary sanctions against Russia's trading partners. Under the bill, the US will levy 500% import duties on any nations that buy oil, gas, uranium and other goods from Russia. Currently, senators are reportedly discussing a version lowering this proposed duty rate.

Senator Rand Paul warned in a column published last year on the Responsible Statecraft portal that the country that would suffer the most damage from the possible approval of this bill would be the United States - both economically and strategically. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in January that the Washington administration considers this bill unnecessary, since President Donald Trump already has all the relevant powers in this area.