WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that he is ready to vote on a bill sanctioning buyers of Russian oil — one day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the administration would support a tariff smacking China for its reliance on Moscow for energy.
The bill, co-authored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), has been shelved for months as President Trump has sought to settle the Ukraine war with diplomacy, but Thune (R-SD) told reporters that “I think it’s a bill whose time has come.”
“I’m hoping to get it scheduled,” the majority leader confirmed, later adding: “I think we need to move.”
On Wednesday, Bessent revealed that President Trump wants him to pitch Europe on an arrangement that would see Washington and Brussels tariff China — the largest buyer of Russian oil in the world — and funnel the proceeds into a “victory fund” to purchase weapons for Ukraine.
“President Trump has instructed the ambassador and myself to tell our European allies that we would be in favor of whether you would call it a ‘Russian oil tariff’ on China or a ‘Ukrainian victory tariff’ on China,” Bessent said.
“But our Ukrainian or European allies have to be willing to follow. We will respond if our European partners will join us.”
The plan would levy 500% tariffs on any item that China attempts to export to participating countries, the proceeds of which would be used to buy weapons for Ukraine to fight back against Russia.
The Graham-Blumenthal bill would impose a 500% duty on countries that import energy from Russia, the proceeds of which are a key source of funding for the Kremlin’s military machine. The White House has raised concerns that the bill intrudes on the president’s power over foreign policy, contributing to the measure being shelved.
Much of the tariff revenue — if not all — would likely make its way to the US defense sector, which has been selling weapons to European nations to provide to Ukraine for months through the NATO “Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List” initiative.
Such an arrangement would ramp up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war on Ukraine — which has already tanked Moscow’s economy.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended a NATO defense summit Tuesday, where he spoke with European allies about buying more American weapons for Ukraine.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned under President Trump, it’s the active application of peace through strength,” he said. “You get peace when you are strong, not when you use strong words or wag your finger. You get it when you have strong and real capabilities that adversaries respect.”
“Now, if this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” Hegseth added.
Trump and Putin spoke by phone on Thursday, with the US president announcing plans for a face-to-face meeting in Budapest, Hungary at a future date.
That sitdown would follow high-level discussions next week involving US and Russian officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.