Bipartisan Backlash Over Russian Diesel Deal: Tillis Says It May Be Illegal as Seven Senators Demand Reversal; Bessent Pushes Back
President Trump's diesel supply deal with Russia drew a bipartisan rebuke on Capitol Hill on Sunday, with a senior Republican senator calling it possibly illegal and seven senators from both parties demanding the administration reverse course, according to USA Today and Reuters.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who retires from the Senate in January, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that there is a legitimate case that the president is not following the law. Congress banned imports of Russian energy products in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine, and that law has never been amended, yet the Treasury Department's temporary waiver — issued Friday and running through April 7, 2027 — makes no mention of the import ban, he argued. "I believe that he may be," Tillis said when asked if Trump was breaking the law. He warned the deal would put American lives at risk and said he would use year-end military and government funding negotiations as leverage.
Later Sunday, seven senators — Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tillis and John Curtis of Utah, and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ron Wyden of Oregon — issued a joint statement demanding the administration "immediately reverse course." "Congress explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022 to prevent American dollars from financing (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's brutal war against Ukraine," they said, adding that the administration neither consulted Congress nor submitted the explanation the law requires. "The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the deal on Fox News, saying the administration would proceed using its existing legal authority and that the critics were wrong, while emphasizing the deal benefits American consumers by pressing fuel prices down.
Trump announced the deal Friday on Truth Social: Russia would supply diesel to U.S. and global markets — 300,000 tons "immediately," another 1 million tons in November, and then 3 million tons "within a short period," conditional on the state of Russia's refineries. The Kremlin confirmed its readiness to supply oil and petroleum products. The dispute comes just weeks after Trump signed a major Russia sanctions package named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, and with diesel prices above $6 a gallon and the Nov. 3 midterms set to decide control of Congress. Analysts, including oil researcher Rory Johnston, have questioned whether the volumes are large enough to bring meaningful relief.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦。摄影：Martin Falbisoner，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
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