Zelenskyy warns US siding with Putin a ‘historic mistake’

President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Friday, Oct. 16, waiving sweeping sanctions and tariffs on Russia under the Graham Act. He told Congress the waiver "is in the national interests of the United States". The order came two days before the measures were due to take effect on Sunday, Oct. 18. Trump had signed the law only last month.thehill.com+1

The order covers every operative section of the law that deals with Russia. That includes tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods and tariffs of up to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas. Existing sanctions from earlier executive orders still apply. But the waiver also removes a provision that required those sanctions to stay in place, so the president can now act on them alone.reuters.com

Rubio cites a 60-day review

On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump would take up to 60 days to study the economic impact. "The president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy," Rubio said. Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago, "A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out".reuters.com

The waiver came days after Trump made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel. The aim is to curb high fuel prices, which have climbed during the U.S. war with Iran.apnews.com

Lawmakers in both parties object

"What part of enforcing a law passed 86-11 by the Senate does the President and his advisors not understand?" asked Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, also a Republican, said "Lindsey would be appalled," referring to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said "Trump's deal with the devil keeps getting dirtier". Congress is on recess until after the Nov. 3 elections, so a quick response is unlikely.apnews.com

In the House, several Republicans who back Ukraine are threatening to block at least $350 billion in new Pentagon spending that the administration wants passed in the post-election lame-duck session. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska warned that the administration's agenda "is dead unless they change paths." Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said, "Agencies won't get funding if they're not doing their jobs".thehill.com

Not every Republican objected. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma defended the waiver, pointing to high gas prices. He said Trump "is choosing the American people first".nbcnews.com

Zelenskyy warns of a "historic mistake"

Speaking on the same program Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the U.S. formally siding with Putin would be a "historic mistake." He called the waiver a "pity" and said the diesel deal "will strengthen Putin in his will to occupy us". He still called Trump an ally: "I hope that he will change his decisions, because I think that it's all mistakes."nbcnews.com