Six senators urge Trump to abandon plan to buy Russian diesel

A bipartisan group of four Republican and two Democratic senators on Sunday urged the Trump administration to “immediately change course” on its plan to purchase diesel fuel from Russia.

On Friday, Trump said he had reached an agreement during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, Russia will supply the US and global markets with 300,000 tons of diesel at first, an additional 500,000 tons in November, and then 1 million tons. A further 3 million tons is to follow “in a short period of time.”

The statement was signed by Republican senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis, and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal. They said the administration had not consulted Congress, as required by law, or justified its decision. The senators wrote: “While Russia continues to kill Ukrainian citizens, the US must not provide financial aid to Putin.”

The lawmakers noted that Congress banned Russian energy imports in 2022 and, a few weeks ago, passed a law providing for tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas. In their view, Trump’s decision directly contradicts that law.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Tillis said that if the plan goes ahead, there are legal grounds to argue that the president is not complying with the law.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, in an interview with CBS, said Trump is trying to reduce energy costs and has to “strike a balance and make difficult decisions.” He also urged Trump to enforce the sanctions law Congress passed last month.

Trump has tried to blame Ukraine, rather than the Iran war, for record-high diesel prices in the US.