Wall Street Journal editorial blasts Trump’s freeze on Russian sanctions as a giveaway to the Kremlin
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The Wall Street Journal sharply condemned President Donald Trump’s executive order halting tariffs and sanctions on Russian energy interests, warning that the move weakens U.S. and allied security while emboldening Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs and sanctions targeting Russian energy buyers and officials, denouncing it as a reckless reversal of a bipartisan law passed by the Senate 86-11. The legislation, backed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, had authorized tariffs of up to 500 percent on Russian imports and duties of up to 100 percent on major oil and gas purchasers such as China and India. Trump issued the order two days before the measures were set to take effect, citing “national interests,” even as critics argued that the decision served Russian interests instead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that the reversal “helps only the Russians” and prolongs the war. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a co-author of the Graham Act, said the president “stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug & the enablers of Russia’s war machine,” underscoring the depth of outrage among opponents of the move.
The editorial noted that Russia launched a major attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure shortly after Trump announced an “energy ceasefire,” and argued that Ukraine had honored the pause while Russia had not. Trump later suggested that Vladimir Putin might be willing to negotiate a peace deal, while casting doubt on Zelensky’s readiness to do the same, a framing critics said was wildly divorced from reality.
The newspaper warned that Congress may need to confront what it described as a “budding alliance with the Kremlin” after the upcoming November 3 election, and urged a bipartisan review of the administration’s policy toward Russia, Ukraine, and European allies. The Daily Beast sought comment from the White House.