The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan.
The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort.
Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press in Rome that they hope to bring the legislation to a vote in the US Senate before the recess begins next month.
Photo: AP
They said they are convinced that it would give US President Donald Trump the tools and flexibility he needs to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war.
“We’re not gonna play whack-a-mole anymore with Russia and sanctions,” Graham said. “We’re going after his [Putin’s] customer base. And that’s what the Europeans, I think, are most pleased with.”
“This is not just kind of a continuation of our current strategy. This is a real turning point,” Blumenthal said. “It’s a real game-changer, because it says to Putin: ‘We’re going to hit you right where it hurts.’”
Graham and Blumenthal briefed a meeting in Rome of the “coalition of the willing,” the 30-plus countries that have said they are prepared to send troops to keep the peace in Ukraine after hostilities cease. The meeting, which the US attended for the first time, was held on the sidelines of a Ukraine recovery conference.
They also said that the legislation would have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan.
The threat of such a massive economic hit on Beijing for its support of Russia was a “trial run for Taiwan,” Graham said.
“The other important lesson for China here is that a small country, out-manned and out-gunned, can win,” Blumenthal said.
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