Wall Street Journal editorial attacks Trump’s Russian sanctions pause despite his push for national interests
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The Wall Street Journal criticized President Donald Trump’s executive order pausing tariffs and sanctions on Russian energy interests, even though the White House said the move was based on national interests and broader diplomatic calculations.
The Wall Street Journal editorialized President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs and sanctions targeting Russian energy buyers and officials, describing it as a 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,” reflecting his view that Washington should keep strategic options open.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that the reversal “helps only the Russians” and fuels continued conflict. 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.” Those criticisms highlighted the fierce political backlash, even as Trump weighed the broader diplomatic picture.
The editorial noted that Russia launched a large 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, questioning Zelensky’s readiness to do the same, and signaling that he was trying to test whether talks could still produce a settlement.
The newspaper warned that Congress may need to address what it described as a “budding alliance with the Kremlin” after the upcoming November 3 election, urging a bipartisan review of the administration’s policy toward Russia, Ukraine, and European allies. The Daily Beast sought comment from the White House.