White House wants to ease sanctions against Russia in Senator Graham’s bill - The Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration has called on Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to ease sanctions measures against Russia in a bill that has overwhelming support in the US Senate.
This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, Censor.NET informs with reference to European Pravda.
According to the WSJ, in recent weeks, representatives of the White House have been secretly contacting Graham's office, urging him to soften the bill with sanctions against Russia.
Among other things, according to the senator's anonymous aides, Trump proposed adding provisions to the draft that would allow the US president to decide independently who or what to sanction. The White House also proposed replacing all wording with the word "must" with "may", thereby cancelling the mandatory nature of the sanctions.
Graham's entourage expressed outrage that removing the mandatory nature of sanctions would make the bill toothless and stressed that Trump already has the ability to impose sanctions at his discretion.
Graham-Blumenthal bill on sanctions against Russia
On April 1, it was reported that a new sanctions bill against Russia had been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The proposed legislation would impose a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil and other raw materials.
The measures aim to increase economic pressure on Russia and create additional barriers for nations maintaining trade in Russian energy resources.
The initiative was put forward by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. At present, the bill is supported by 82 out of 100 U.S. senators.
