Bipartisan senators urge Trump to reverse Russian diesel deal

Treasury suspending Russian diesel sanctions until April 7

Seven US senators — four Republicans and three Democrats — urged President Donald Trump on Sunday to “reverse course” on his deal to import Russian diesel, saying the agreement violates US law and provides a “financial lifeline” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The bipartisan letter came two days after Trump announced the arrangement with Putin.

The letter was signed by Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis, and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden. “The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians,” the lawmakers wrote. They added that Congress had “explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022 to prevent American dollars from financing Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine.”

Trump announced Friday that Putin had agreed to release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately “to the American and global marketplace,” followed by 500,000 tonnes in November, one million tonnes after that, and a further three million tonnes delivered “within a short period” dependent on the condition of Russia’s refineries, which Ukraine has attacked during the war. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed the volumes to Tass, the country’s state-owned news agency, saying the export volume could reach three million tonnes per month in future.

In a Truth Social post framing the agreement, Trump wrote: “Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the deal a gift to Putin that amounts to “an investment in a war that must be ended.” Trump separately announced Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had reached an “energy ceasefire,” but did not give further details. Zelensky welcomed the announcement; there was no response from Moscow.

International criticism extended beyond Kyiv. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was among the international leaders who questioned the deal, and UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the US and other allies of Ukraine should focus on ramping up pressure on Russia to end the war. The UK does not support the arrangement, according to the BBC.

The US Treasury is understood to be suspending sanctions on Russian diesel exports until April 7 as part of the deal, though other Russian assets held in American banks remain frozen. The suspension comes weeks after Trump signed separate legislation authorizing fresh US sanctions and tariffs on nations that import Russian oil and gas. The seven senators cited a different legal basis — Congress’s 2022 ban on Russian energy imports — in arguing the new arrangement runs afoul of US law.

Trump administration officials defended the agreement. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News the deal would work through existing legal channels the US has to help bring prices down, and that anyone in Congress who said it would not was wrong. Republican Thomas Massie, who has sparred with Trump on a number of issues, broke from the bipartisan Senate critics and said the US should lift sanctions on all petroleum products.

Global fuel prices have climbed since the US-Israel war with Iran began at the end of February, with the conflict severely disrupting crude oil supplies. The rising prices have become a key political issue for Americans ahead of next month’s midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control of Congress. Polls show a majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of both the economy and the war in Iran.

The toll has been felt most acutely in US agricultural states, which depend heavily on diesel to operate farming machinery and to transport their products to market. The average diesel price in the US stood at $6.28 per gallon on Sunday, according to the motor group AAA, down from a record high of $6.53 recorded at the end of September.

Analysts have questioned whether Russia is capable of supplying the diesel volumes promised and the extent to which doing so will ease prices for American consumers. The US consumes approximately 3.6 million barrels of diesel per day, so even if Russia delivers the initial 300,000 tonnes this month, that amount would equal roughly half of US daily consumption.