The bill, a softened version of the Sanctioning Russia Act introduced in the Senate in April 2025.
A bipartisan group of US senators on Tuesday unveiled a new sanctions bill that proposes tariffs of up to 100% on exports from India, China, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan for purchasing Russian oil, in the latest effort to throttle Moscow’s energy revenues and force an end to the war in Ukraine.
The bill — a softened version of the Sanctioning Russia Act introduced in the Senate in April 2025, which proposed tariffs as high as 500% but failed to advance to a vote — could be passed before August, according to its backers. The US Trade Representative (USTR) would determine the exact tariff rate imposed on each country.
Threat and India’s increased purchase of Russian crude
The threat of renewed tariffs comes at a time when India’s purchases of Russian crude have surged — primarily because the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran retaliated against US-Israeli military strikes choked off Gulf crude supplies that previously accounted for roughly 40% of India’s oil imports, forcing refiners to turn to Russian crude as the main alternative source.
Washington itself facilitated this pivot through a series of OFAC general licences — the last of which expired on June 17 — that temporarily waived sanctions on Russian oil transactions to stabilise global energy markets during the crisis.
Indian imports of Russian crude oil rose 34% in June 2026 to record levels, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and were valued at €4.5 billion, accounting for roughly 36% of Russia’s crude oil export revenues. India was the second largest buyer behind China.
The new bill also lands at a time both sides are engaged in trade talks. A framework in February had settled on an 18% rate for Indian goods, but that arrangement was overtaken when the Supreme Court ruled later the same month that President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers under IEEPA to impose tariffs was unlawful. Indian goods currently enter the US under a flat 15% tariff imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — a temporary authority due to expire on July 24, with the broader bilateral trade agreement between the two countries still unfinished.
