With Diesel Above $6.50 a Gallon After His Own Iran War Helped Spike Fuel Prices, Trump Signed an Executive Order Gutting Key Parts of the Bipartisan Graham Act Sanctions on Russia Days Before They Took Effect — and Cut a Deal With Vladimir Putin for Russia to Supply Diesel to the U.S. and Global Markets, a Move Zelensky Called "Wrong" and a Member of Congress Called a "Surrender to Putin"
In October 2026, with diesel prices spiking above $6.50 a gallon — a crisis driven substantially by the oil-market shock from Trump's own war on Iran — the president reached for relief in the worst possible place: Vladimir Putin. On October 16, Trump signed an executive order waiving key provisions of the Graham Act, the bipartisan Russia sanctions law, days before they were due to take effect, calling off planned duties on Russian goods and penalties on buying Russian oil and gas. The Treasury Department simultaneously issued a general license authorizing Russian diesel sales through April 2027. The arrangement grew out of a deal Trump announced with Putin for Russia to supply diesel to the United States and global markets. The reaction was swift and bipartisan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the move "wrong"; Rep. Don Beyer called it a "surrender to Putin"; and members of Congress from both parties had already warned that easing Russian oil sanctions enables Moscow to expand the revenue streams that fund its war on Ukraine. The administration framed it as fuel-price relief. But the relief came by rewarding the aggressor, undercutting a sanctions law Congress passed with bipartisan support, and funneling hard currency to the Kremlin's war machine — to solve a price crisis that Trump's own foreign policy helped create.