Trump Waives Russia Sanctions as India Trade Looms

President Donald Trump waived key Russia-related sanctions and tariffs, easing pressure on India’s energy imports while drawing criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump said the order aimed to keep Moscow at the bargaining table as he negotiates an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The India trade calculation

Trump issued the executive order Friday. It waived sanctions and tariffs on Russian goods, along with penalties on purchases of Russian oil and gas that were scheduled to begin this week under the Graham Act. He said the waiver served the U.S. national interest.

The legislation would have exposed Indian goods to tariffs of up to 100%. India ranks among the five largest importers of Russian oil, and it’s also the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer. Russia supplied nearly half of India’s oil imports earlier this year, although purchases fell in August and kept declining.

The waiver could improve prospects for a U.S.-India trade agreement and support bilateral ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration warned last month that the proposed Russia-related tariffs could harm relations, adding to diplomatic strain and trade uncertainty. If India cuts Russian oil imports to avoid U.S. tariffs, fuel prices could rise ahead of regional elections or government finances could come under strain.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was due to arrive in India on Tuesday, said trade talks figured among the considerations behind Trump’s decision. “We are trying to finalise a trade deal with India right now and we are very close to doing that. So, that's one of the things we take into consideration when the President makes a decision about national security waivers,” Rubio told reporters in Uzbekistan on Monday. He added, “For some countries it is very difficult to acquire energy from alternative sources.”

Rubio’s two-day visit was set to include a Tuesday meeting with foreign minister S. Jaishankar on bilateral cooperation, including energy, trade and investment, and defence. The two sides had discussed a trade agreement for months, but it remained unfinished, partly because talks stalled over the tariff threat.

Sanctions and bargaining power

A U.S. Section 301 trade investigation into several countries, including India, over alleged excess manufacturing capacity also remained incomplete. Section 301 is a U.S. trade law that permits retaliation against unfair foreign trade practices. Earlier this month, India joined a U.S.-led initiative against structural overcapacity alongside several other nations.

Trade officials in New Delhi said last week that an agreement was nearly done. They sounded optimistic about securing a tariff lower than those faced by competing countries, a longstanding Indian expectation. Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said the sanctions pause “could be the confidence-building measure that gives the two sides the negotiating space to get over the final hump.” He called it “an important opening and at a critical moment,” after tensions over the sanctions bill and new U.S. visa policies put the relationship “in danger of falling into even harder times.”

Trump defended the waiver on Truth Social on Sunday, saying he didn’t want to “drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.” He wrote, “Great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations!” Trump also said Russia was doing “very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing,” and said he wanted to keep it that way “unless stupid people get in the way.”

Ukraine’s objection

Zelenskyy said waiving sanctions “will hurt Ukraine.” On NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, he said the move would strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. “We can't compare me and Putin. He's [an] aggressor. He occupied us. He killed adults and children, his soldiers. He's a terrorist, and that's why I hope that President Trump will be very clear with this position,” he said.

Trump accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war. He said Ukrainian attacks on Russian diesel refineries were “seriously hurting the world diesel markets,” including those in the United States. Zelenskyy said Ukraine trusted Trump, and that it would be “unbelievable” for the United States to support Putin over him.

On Sunday, Zelenskyy said on X that he had spoken with U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the “next steps in diplomacy.” He wrote that the countries’ teams were in “virtually non-stop communication.” In an interview with Newsmax’s Finnerty, Trump called Zelenskyy “not a good guy for us to deal with” and said he was “not a big fan of Zelensky.”

Trump announced on October 9 that Russia would supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel to U.S. and global markets to address fuel prices that had risen since the United States and Israel launched a war on Iran. The conflict had entered its eighth month. The move angered Kyiv, European partners and many U.S. officials, who said it rewards Moscow while the war continues. Russia and Ukraine kept striking each other’s energy sites as Zelenskyy spoke with Witkoff and Kushner. Moscow’s strikes left thousands without power, while Kyiv carried out its largest drone attack on Russia, in St. Petersburg, since the war began.