Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on a Russian secondary sanctions bill, said he's not discouraged that Senate Majority Leader John Thune is putting off a vote on the bill again. The bill has 85 sponsors in the Senate, and would give the president the ability to put up to 500% tariffs on the goods of countries that buy Russian fossil fuels; it also would expand sanctions on Russian officials.
A bipartisan group of 27 House members, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Emeritus Michael McCaul, R-Texas, called on President Donald Trump Oct. 17 to impose “forceful new joint sanctions” on Russia and countries that buy its oil, to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.
RANCH MIRAGE, Calif. -- The Federal Maritime Commission is increasing its enforcement action against ocean transportation intermediaries (OTIs) to promote adherence to licensing and tariff regulations, speakers said at the Pacific Coast Council’s Western Cargo Conference last week.
President Donald Trump posted on social media that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long, "very productive" phone call on Oct. 16. In addition to talking about the ceasefire in Gaza and the first lady's efforts to get Ukrainian children held in Russia or Russia-occupied Ukraine back to their parents in free Ukraine, "we also spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over," he wrote.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer faced some skepticism at a Republican lunch this week, but how much is unclear, since many Republicans were circumspect in describing the conversation. However much intra-party pushback there is toward the administration's tariff and trade policy, one senator told International Trade Today that it doesn't matter in the end.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, in a joint press conference with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said the administration has already drafted some documents to hike tariffs on Chinese goods, and is drafting other documents that might impose more export controls for goods sold to Chinese firms.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said late Oct. 7 that he hopes to have the Senate take up his Russia sanctions and tariff bill by month’s end to send a message to next month’s Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Canada.
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine, Poland and Germany, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sept. 24 to schedule a House floor vote on the proposed Sanctioning Russia Act, which would impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he and President Donald Trump discussed how to "decisively increase the pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin "to get him to agree to a peace deal."
President Donald Trump posted over the weekend that he's prepared to levy new sanctions against Moscow if U.S. allies stop purchasing Russian oil and potentially put in place other sanctions against the country.