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Trump signs Russia and Iran sanctions act, opening the door to tariffs on Russian-oil buyers

H.R. 5334 gives the president authority to impose secondary tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian crude, with India and China at the centre of the risk.

Assembled by Claude from 11 sources at 11 outlets · Sunday, September 20, 2026, Morning edition, 10:13 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

On Friday, September 18, 2026, the president signed into law H.R. 5334, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which authorises and expands statutory sanctions, tariffs and prohibitions on Russia and extends existing sanctions on Iran whitehouse.gov. The law targets Russia's energy and defence sectors, President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials kuwaittimes.com.

Its reach extends past Russia itself. The bill authorises secondary sanctions against the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil and natural gas bignewsnetwork.com. Secondary sanctions, unlike primary sanctions that target entities with direct US connections, penalise third parties for transactions that have no such link techtimes.com. India and China are among the biggest buyers of Russian oil, which puts them at the centre of the potential tariff risk m.economictimes.com. The act has been described as giving the president five-year tariff power over India techtimes.com.

One date is already fixed. Washington sets the tariffs arising from the sanctions act on October 18, 2026 cryptoticker.io.

How steep, and on whom

The sources disagree on the ceiling, and the gap is wide. Several report that the new law gives the president power to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods from countries that continue buying Russian energy m.economictimes.comtelegraphindia.com. Another states that under H.R. 5334 the government is set to impose tariffs of up to 500% on all goods imported from Russia intellectia.ai. The two figures describe different targets, one aimed at third-country buyers and one at Russian goods directly, but the published accounts do not reconcile them.

The powers are also described as discretionary rather than automatic. Coverage frames the question as whether the president will detonate the tariff authority he now holds telegraphindia.com, and characterises the law as handing him sweeping new tariff powers gvwire.com.

Why it matters to investors

Beijing has objected in terms that leave room for retaliation. China says it reserves the right to take all necessary measures, and its ministry stated that it opposes secondary sanctions against countries that do business with third parties meduza.io. A Commerce Ministry spokesperson said Beijing has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions and so-called secondary sanctions timesofindia.indiatimes.com.

There is also a warning about unintended consequences. In a worst-case scenario, one analyst cited in the coverage argued, Ukraine itself could suffer if the new tariffs cut off Russian oil flows gvwire.com. For investors, the practical exposure sits with exporters and energy importers in the named buyer countries m.economictimes.com, and the near-term marker is what Washington actually sets on October 18 cryptoticker.io.

Sources

  1. whitehouse.gov: Congressional Bill H.R. 5334 Signed into Law (2026-09-18)
  2. intellectia.ai: Impact of New US Tariff Legislation on Russia | Intellectia.AI (2026-09-20)
  3. gvwire.com: Russia Sanctions Bill Gives Trump Sweeping New Tariff Powers - GV Wire (2026-09-19)
  4. m.economictimes.com: Trump signs Russia-Iran sanctions law, opens door to 100% tariffs on India (2026-09-19)
  5. cryptoticker.io: Russia Sanctions and Crypto : October 18 Deadline - CryptoTicker (2026-09-20)
  6. techtimes.com: Graham Act Gives Trump Five-Year Tariff Power Over India as Russian Oil Hits Record (2026-09-20)
  7. meduza.io: China says it reserves the right to take 'all necessary measures' after Trump signs Russia ... (2026-09-20)
  8. timesofindia.indiatimes.com: China slams US law tightening sanctions on Russia and Iran - The Times of India (2026-09-19)
  9. bignewsnetwork.com: Beijing slams new US sanctions against Russia - Big News Network.com (2026-09-19)
  10. kuwaittimes.com: Trump signs sweeping Russia sanctions bill into law - Kuwait Times (2026-09-19)
  11. telegraphindia.com: Will US President Donald Trump detonate his 100% Russian tariff bomb? - Telegraph India (2026-09-20)