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Vietnam editionPresident Trump signed an executive order Friday, Oct. 16, putting on hold new Russia sanctions in the Lindsey Graham Act, saying it serves the “national interests of the United States,” NBC News and NPR reported. The law targets Russian officials, oligarchs and banks and lets the president sanction big buyers of Russian oil and gas. Its deadline was Oct. 18. On Saturday Trump called the waiver “a very good decision.” Rubio called it a 60-day pause, RTÉ and TheJournal.ie reported. Zelenskyy called it unfortunate and wrong, NPR and CNBC reported. Blumenthal, Tillis, Cruz and Haley criticized it, Axios and Fox Business reported.
Congress wrote the law to squeeze Moscow’s energy income but left the president a waiver, and he used it before any penalty took hold. The pause follows last week’s deal to bring Russian diesel to market as fuel prices rise. Lawmakers from both parties now face a choice about whether to push back on a president of their own party weeks before an election.
Diesel feeds into freight, farming and grocery prices, so the administration is betting that more Russian supply eases costs. If the sanctions stay off, tariff threats against major buyers of Russian oil also stay off, which matters for trade.
The administration’s case, from Trump and Rubio, is that the country needs time to study what the sanctions would do to the world economy and fuel prices. Trump said the decision is good for the country and the world.
Critics including Blumenthal, Tillis, Cruz, Haley and Zelenskyy say the pause rewards Putin and weakens pressure to end the war. Darline Graham said she would keep the pressure on because she does not trust Putin.
Confirmed: the order, the national-interest wording and the bipartisan criticism. Not confirmed: whether the pause will really end after 60 days. Watch whether Congress moves to override, and whether diesel prices actually fall.
NBC News, NPR, CNBC, Axios, Fox Business, The Hill, Philadelphia Inquirer, RTÉ, TheJournal.ie, Oct. 17, 2026
Trump defends pausing new Russia sanctions as Zelenskyy, senators of both parties objectTrump defends pausing new Russia sanctions as Zelenskyy, senators of both parties object
A day after signing the waiver, the president called it “a very good decision”; Ukraine’s leader called it a reward for Putin.
President Trump on Saturday defended his executive order putting on hold the new Russia sanctions in the Lindsey Graham Act, calling it “a very good decision” that would be “good for the country” and “good for the world,” NBC News and Fox Business reported. Asked to explain it, he added that reporters did not yet know what his decision was and would “figure it out.” The order, signed Friday, says withholding the measures is in the “national interests of the United States” and gives no further detail, NBC News and NPR reported. The law, which Trump signed last month, targets Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions and lets the president sanction major buyers of Russian oil and gas; the waiver came two days before the law’s Oct. 18 deadline, according to NPR and NBC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was a 60-day pause to “analyse” the sanctions’ impact on the global economy, RTÉ and TheJournal.ie reported. NBC said the pause followed a deal with Vladimir Putin last week to release hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel onto the global market as fuel prices climb.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the decision unfortunate and urged supporters to back the sanctions, saying blocking them would encourage Russia to keep up its assault, NPR, CBC and PBS reported; CNBC quoted him calling the move “wrong.” He also said restrictions on Ukraine’s military use of SpaceX’s Starlink appeared deliberate rather than technical, Bloomberg and CBS News reported, adding that Ukraine could not use Starlink or Starshield to shoot down jet-powered Shahed drones. In Washington, the criticism crossed party lines, Axios and Fox Business reported. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who helped draft the bill, wrote on X that the waivers had “everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,” according to The Hill and Axios. Republican Senator Thom Tillis called the move “beyond irresponsible,” Senator Ted Cruz called it “a mistake,” and Nikki Haley called it “a terrible misjudgment of Putin,” Fox Business reported. Senator Darline Graham of South Carolina, appointed to the seat of her late brother, Lindsey, for whom the law is named, said she would personally “keep the pressure on Russia” because she does not trust Putin, but that using the law is “up to him,” The Hill and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
By the numbers
A 2026 sanctions law on Russia named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, with a presidential waiver.