US President Donald Trump has suspended new sanctions and tariffs on Russia a day before they were due to take effect. Last month he signed a law that provided for the sanctions and tariffs.
The law allowed tariffs on Russian goods and punitive measures against countries that buy Russian oil and gas. On Friday, local time, the White House published an executive order in which Trump said the suspension was in the national interest of the United States.
The law was passed last month to increase pressure on Russia, which is at war with Ukraine. Trump has recently taken a softer line towards Russia, while criticising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and even saying it was time for Ukraine to elect a new leader.
The US midterm elections are a few weeks away, and Trump’s Republican Party is fighting to keep its majorities in both houses of Congress.
Analysts say the new tariffs and sanctions could have pushed world oil prices higher. American consumers are already under pressure from rising fuel prices after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was among the law’s main sponsors. Under it, the United States could impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas.
The tariff could also be applied to goods from countries that knowingly kept buying Russian oil or gas 30 days after the law took effect, and to the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions.
Trump’s executive order says the suspension will remain in force until he or his senior officials decide otherwise. Don Beyer, a Democratic member of Congress from Virginia, criticised the decision, accusing Trump of giving in to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Trump’s surrender to Putin once again betrays our Ukrainian partners,” Beyer said in a statement. “He has also ignored Congress’s clear intent in passing a law to punish Russia’s illegal aggression.”
Trump was recently criticised by several US senators, Republicans among them, over a diesel deal with Russia. Under that deal he agreed to lift sanctions on Russian exports, and in return Russia agreed to supply diesel to the world market, with the aim of lowering fuel prices.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report