WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has waived specified new Russia-related sanctions and tariff provisions under legislation he signed in September, invoking a national-interest exemption.

The October 16 executive order identifies provisions of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 that will not be applied for now. It does not announce the removal of all U.S. sanctions on Russia.

What the order changes

Section 4 waives the Act’s specified duties and a series of sanctions and restrictions. The document says Trump submitted a national-interest certification and an explanatory report to Congress.

The waivers have no fixed expiry date in the order. They continue until the president or designated senior officials determine that further action is appropriate.

Crucially, the order expressly preserves sanctions under earlier executive orders addressing harmful Russian government activities, as they stood before the new Act was enacted.

Ukraine objects to the pause

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged supporters on October 17 to defend the sanctions package, according to The Associated Press. He argued that reducing pressure would encourage Russia to continue the war, while expressing hope that Trump would help stop attacks.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a co-author of the legislation, also condemned the waiver. Those assessments are the critics’ positions, not a measured finding about the decision’s eventual military or economic effects.

The White House’s published order states the national-interest determination but does not reproduce the explanatory report it says was sent to lawmakers.

Canadian sanctions are a separate framework

Global Affairs Canada’s current Russia-sanctions guidance describes Canadian asset freezes, trade restrictions and financial prohibitions under Canadian law. The U.S. order is not an amendment to those Canadian regulations.

For Canadians, the distinction matters: a change in Washington’s policy should not be treated as permission to conduct a transaction prohibited in Canada. The applicable Canadian rules and any exceptions still require separate consideration.

This is a new sanctions decision, distinct from the diesel arrangement and refinery-strike dispute previously covered by TNC. No specific fuel-price reduction or end to the fighting is established by the waiver.

Sources: White House executive order, October 16; Reuters report; AP via CityNews, October 16; AP on Ukraine’s response, October 17; Global Affairs Canada’s Russia-sanctions guidance.

White House north facade, September 3, 2013, by Martin Falbisoner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; resized. File photograph, not the signing of the October 16 order.