Graham Act Waiver: What Was Signed, What Was Paused

Analysis. Every figure below is sourced in the box at the end. The facts are laid out; the conclusion is yours.

In the United States, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed on September 18, 2026 the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. Twenty eight days later, on October 16, he signed an executive order that waives its duties and most of its sanctions. Both documents are public. The question is what the second one actually changed.

What the law says, and what the order did with it

According to the executive order published on whitehouse.gov, the law provides for three increases in duties: 500 percent on goods from the Russian Federation, 100 percent on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas that knowingly make new purchases on or after October 18, 2026, and 100 percent on goods from the top five facilitators of Russian oil sanctions evasion.

The order then uses section 115 of the law, which lets the President waive any sanctions provision or duty after sending Congress a written certification that the waiver is in the national interests of the United States, plus a report explaining why. Section 4 of the order waives the duties in sections 112 and 113, the sanctions provision in section 102(d), and a list of other provisions: sections 102(a), 102(e), 103 through 111, and 117.

The order also says what it leaves alone. Sanctions issued under executive orders that predate the law, including those tied to the national emergency continued on March 24, 2026, remain in effect, along with everyone already sanctioned under them.

The stated reason, and the timing

The order itself gives one reason: the national interests of the United States. It does not mention fuel prices. Bloomberg reported that the waiver came as the law's measures complicated the White House push to lower diesel prices, which it described as hovering at record highs weeks before the November 3 elections, and that the provisions conflicted with a plan announced the week before to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Russian diesel supplies into global markets. Bloomberg also noted that the one month deadline for the 100 percent duties on top buyers was set to expire on October 18.

Supporters of the waiver can make a straightforward case: a president needs room to adjust sanctions as markets and talks change, and the law itself gives him that room. Critics argue that a law Congress wrote to constrain the executive was set aside within a month. Both readings rest on the same text.

Numbers side by side

The law and the order can be compared on a few points that do not depend on interpretation. The law was signed on September 18 and the waiver on October 16, a gap of 28 days. The duty rates in the law are 500 and 100 percent. The waiver has no end date in the text: section 4(d) says the waivers remain in effect until the President or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Treasury Secretary and the Trade Representative, determines that further action is appropriate.

The questions that remain

Who decides when the waiver ends? The text gives that power to the executive branch alone. Does the congressional report, which the order says was submitted, become public, and would it show what economic analysis lay behind the certification? If diesel prices fall after November 3, does the stated rationale still hold, and what would trigger the monitoring reports to recommend reversing it? And if Congress wants a firmer rule, what would a law look like that a president could not waive in 28 days?

The next checkable fact is the monitoring: the order directs the Trade Representative to report regularly on Russian oil purchases, and any change to the waivers would again have to appear as a signed document.