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- Sen. Richard Blumenthal called it an tariff bill but said it imposes full blocking sanctions on wide swaths of the Russian economy.
- Tariffs are targeted, narrowly limited and crafted to avoid penalizing European allies supporting Ukraine.
- Concerns persist that Trump could use the tariff authority as another lever; Blumenthal replied, "No more than he does now."
- The authority is confined to five major oil and gas purchases and includes a 15% exemption.
- The bill targets evaders enabling trans-shipments and other forms of sanctions avoidance.
If the bill passes, it would be the first time Congress has explicitly authorized the use of tariffs as a geopolitical weapon with the goal of punishing countries financing another nation’s war effort. That aspect of the bill has raised concerns that Trump might seize the new authority as another lever in the trade war that has defined much of his second term.
“It’s been referred to as a tariff bill,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut and Graham’s chief Democratic partner on the legislation, said Tuesday. “But actually, it imposes full blocking sanctions on wide swaths of the Russian economy.” The tariffs, he said, were “targeted, narrowly limited” and carefully crafted to avoid penalizing European allies supporting Ukraine.
Asked by TIME about concerns that Trump might use the bill’s tariff powers to pressure countries on various other issues, Blumenthal said, “No more than he does now.” He stressed that he wasn’t concerned about giving Trump more tariff powers. “I mean, right now he is threatening to use tariffs illegally,” Blumenthal said. “He could do the same here, but this bill is very narrowly targeted, and the authority is confined to the five major purchases of oil and gas, with that 15% exemption, and then the evaders that are enabling trans-shipments and other kinds of avoidance.”
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