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President Donald Trump's Friday announcement that Russia will supply diesel fuel to the global market marked an apparent pivot from recent efforts to pressure Moscow to end the Ukraine war by targeting Russian energy exports. Trump claimed the move, unveiled with less than a month left in an affordability-focused midterm election, would swiftly bring down record-high diesel prices. But commentators and critics were quick to highlight contradictions between the new policy and prior efforts by the U.S. to clamp down on Russian oil sales. Those efforts most recently included the enactment of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, empowering Trump to impose tariffs up to 100% on the top purchasers of Russian crude oil or gas, among other restrictions. Trump signed the bill into law just three weeks ago. "Congress just passed a law giving Trump the power to impose new tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil & gas," Scott Lincicome, vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, said on X after Trump's Friday announcement. "Can America tariff America?" he quipped. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, accused Trump's latest move of being "directly contrary to Congress's intent in our bipartisan sanctions bill." Peter Harrell, visiting scholar at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute of International Economic Law, in an X post said that the relaxation of Russian diesel restrictions "pretty much proves the point that the Graham Russia Bill was not going to force the Trump Administration to increase economic pressure on Moscow." Some of the criticism crossed party lines. "Through the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, we gave the president significant authorities and leverage against China and Russia to bring Putin's war to an end with a negotiated settlement," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in an X post. "Unfortunately, while I understand the desire to bring down diesel prices, I am concerned the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin's war machine—emboldening more violence and destruction, as we have seen in recent days," McCaul said. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's questions about the diesel agreement with Russia. Less than a year earlier, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on multiple Russian oil companies in response to what it called "Russia's lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine." Trump also had previously slammed NATO allies for continuing to buy Russian oil. In a September 2025 Truth Social post, he wrote, "the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia." Later that month, Trump again harangued world leaders for doing business with Russia. "They're funding the war against themselves. Who the hell ever heard of that one?" he said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. "They can't be doing what they're doing. They're buying oil and gas from Russia while they're fighting Russia." Trump announced the diesel deal in a Truth Social post Friday afternoon after what he described as a "highly successful discussion" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under the agreement, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, then another 500,000 tons in November, followed by 1 million tons "immediately thereafter" and 3 million more depending on refinery conditions, Trump wrote. The Treasury Department soon after said that Trump directed the Office of Foreign Assets Control to immediately issue a "temporary general license to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market." OFAC specified that the sanctioned transactions will be authorized for about six months, until April 7. Russia seemed to celebrate the move. "Russia-US cooperation on diesel and energy will benefit the world," an X account associated with Putin's economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev said in response to the announcement. But Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose military has started targeting Russian oil refineries, said in a searing statement that the U.S. easing sanctions on Moscow "plays into Russia's hands." "Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness," Zelenskyy said. "Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged." "We count on America's fair support for our defense of life, for our defense of people in Ukraine – and on the United States having a correspondingly strong conversation with Russia," he said. "A strong one, not a weak one," he added. Trump thanked Putin later Friday afternoon for enabling "massive amounts of oil" to come to the U.S. "We need oil for the world, and this is diesel, which is what we need, so we're very happy to get it," Trump told reporters before heading to Syracuse, New York. The Trump administration has previously eased some Russian energy sanctions temporarily, though more narrowly than Friday's announcement. Earlier this year, in an attempt to stabilize markets after the start of the Iran war, the Trump administration issued limited, 30-day waivers allowing countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil that was already in transit. But some interpreted the latest move as a more significant step. "It looks like Trump cut a deal with the devil," Jeremy Siegel, professor emeritus of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told CNBC's "Closing Bell" Friday afternoon. "It's not a permanent solution at all. It's sort of a short-term Band Aid," Siegel said. "And cutting back on or eliminating sanctions on Russia for the invasion in Ukraine, I think, is a very unfortunate consequence."
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