The House Just Gave Trump Power to Hit Russian Oil Buyers With 100 Percent Secondary Tariffs

Axios reported on 16 September 2026 that the U.S. House passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill by 262 to 159, sending the legislation to President Trump's desk after prior Senate passage.

This is House passage of a bill. It is not yet a signed law until the President signs. It is not an already-imposed 100 percent tariff, and it is not the Fed rate decision.

The measure expands economic pressure on Russia and hands the President authority to impose secondary tariffs of up to 100 percent on buyers of Russian oil and gas. It also targets Russia's "shadow fleet" of aging tankers used to evade Western sanctions.

The bill was renamed in honor of its lead sponsor, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died suddenly in July. The Senate passed the measure last month with broad bipartisan support after Trump officially backed it. The legislation dates back to a sanctions push Graham and dozens of senators launched in April 2025. White House concerns held it up for months.

House Democratic leaders opposed primarily over provisions handing Trump more tariff authority. Some isolationist Republicans opposed deeper involvement. Axios said the bill scrambled the usual partisan lines, with some rank-and-file Democrats backing it while leadership objected. Republicans rejected Democratic efforts in the Rules Committee earlier in the week to strip the tariff authority or narrow how it could be used.

The 100 percent figure is a presidential power in the bill, not a tariff already collecting at the border. Axios did not name which countries would be hit first or set an effective date.

Related trade and floor tape includes the Senate block of the CLARITY crypto bill, the G20 China non-market wording clash, and thin EU winter gas storage.

Energy, shipping, and trade desks should wait for a presidential signature before repricing Russian-oil counterparties, map shadow-fleet tanker exposure now, and treat 100 percent secondary tariffs as a live option on the book, not a duty already in force.