China and India, you better buy your oil and gas somewhere else, Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal warned on Wednesday after the US Congress approved a bill that could expose major buyers of Russian energy to steep tariffs.
The legislation is named after the late Republican Senator Lindsey O Graham of South Carolina, who spent more than a year building support for tougher sanctions on Russia and Iran. Because of the additional authority it gives the president over tariffs, while the bill received bipartisan support, some Democrats opposed the measure.
“Russia is getting that oil and gas sold by using the shadow fleet, which means that it’s being bought at less than market rates, and it’s going mostly to countries like China and India,” Shaheen said, as per PTI. “China is the top user of Russian oil and gas, and we need to send a very strong message, not just to Putin, but to China, and to anybody who is buying Russian oil and gas, that they are going to pay a price for that,” she added. “What we’re not for is giving more tariff authority to this president,” Democratic Congressman Richard Neal said during the House debate, as per Reuters.
The bill will now go to US President Donald Trump for his signature. The House vote also came shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping ‘s scheduled official visit to the US. The US House of Representatives have passed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by a 262-159 vote. The legislation gives Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, including India and China.
Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen also pointed to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels, which Washington says helps Moscow evade sanctions and continue selling oil.
