🇺🇸 🇷🇺 Trump waives the Graham Act—Gemini Argon explains how it works

17 Oct, 2026

NYT: Trump Signs Order Exempting Russia From Sanctions Law:

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday night exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure that Congress passed last month, offering another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as the United States turns to Russia for help in lowering gas prices.

The sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of a law that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after spending more than a year building support for the measure.

The law, which is intended to squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, also provided Mr. Trump with additional tariff authority that he could use to punish countries that continue to trade with Russia.

The White House has broad authority to issue sanctions exemptions or waivers, and the new law requires Mr. Trump to notify Congress only if he opts against imposing the economic restrictions on Russia. Two days before the law is set to take effect, Mr. Trump exercised that power.

“I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” Mr. Trump said in the order. “I have submitted to the Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.”

The order does not explain why waiving the sanctions is in the interests of the United States or what rationale Mr. Trump is providing to Congress for the waivers.

I asked Gemini 4 Argon to explain.

Me: I don’t understand this executive order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/implementing-the-lindsey-o-graham-sanctioning-russia-and-iran-act-of-2026/

Section 1 says “I am hereby waiving the application of such sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act,” and Section 4 repeats it: “I hereby waive the application of any duties provided for in sections 112 and 113 of the Graham Act or this order.”

So, what’s the purpose of Section 2’s mention of “The rate of duty on goods from the Russian Federation shall be increased by 500 percent ad valorem” and “The rate of duty on goods from the largest 5 importers of crude oil and natural gas that originated in the Russian Federation shall be increased by 100 percent ad valorem,” as long as such rates are quashed?

Gemini: At first glance, setting massive tariff rates in Section 2 only to immediately suspend them in Sections 1 and 4 reads like a legal contradiction. In practice, however, this "impose-then-waive" structure is a deliberate legal and diplomatic mechanism.

It serves three specific purposes: fulfilling a 30-day statutory deadline, turning an open-ended law into a "loaded weapon" that can be fired at a moment's notice, and activating a formal surveillance apparatus over foreign energy buyers.

1. Fulfilling the 30-Day Statutory Mandate (Fixing the "Up To" Rate)

President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on September 18, 2026.

• The Statutory Deadline: Sections 112 and 113 of the Act required the President, no later than 30 days after enactment (by October 18, 2026), to increase duty rates on Russian goods and on major third-country buyers of Russian oil and gas.
• The Ceiling vs. Fixed Rate Problem: The statute itself did not fix a single tariff number; instead, it directed the President to set tariffs "up to 500 percent" on Russian goods (Section 112) and "up to 100 percent" on goods from the top five importers of Russian crude oil/natural gas and top five sanctions-evasion facilitators (Section 113).

To comply with the law's 30-day implementation requirement—and to have a legally defined duty on the books that can be waived under Section 115—the President first had to formally establish the exact rates. Section 2 fulfills that mandate by locking in the maximum statutory ceilings (500% and 100% ad valorem) as the baseline law of the land.

2. "Cocking the Hammer" for Instant Leverage

If the President had not established the 500% and 100% rates in Section 2, imposing those tariffs later would require drafting, clearing, and signing a brand-new Executive Order. By setting the maximum rates in Section 2 and simultaneously waiving their application in Section 4, the administration puts the entire tariff machinery in place while keeping the safety on.

Look closely at how Section 2 interacts with Sections 4(d) and 5(a)(ii):

In short, Section 2 loads the chamber, while Sections 4 and 5 hand the trigger to the President and the Secretary of State (in consultation with the Treasury Secretary and the U.S. Trade Representative).

3. Activating the October 18 Cutoff and USTR Monitoring

Even though the tariffs are currently waived, Sections 2(b), 2©, and 3 are active right now.

• The October 18 Cutoff: Section 2(b) establishes that the 100% tariff framework applies to top importers that knowingly make new purchases of Russian crude oil or natural gas on or after October 18, 2026.
• Active Surveillance: Sections 2 and 3 formally order the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)—working with the Departments of State, Treasury, and Energy—to track global oil and gas purchases, identify which nations fall into the "top 5 importers" and "top 5 facilitators of sanctions evasion," and report back to the President on whether any country's behavior warrants revoking the waiver.

By writing the 500% and 100% rates into Section 2, the White House signals to Moscow—and to major buyers of Russian energy—that the maximum penalties are already written into U.S. executive law, purchases made starting October 18 are being formally logged, and the waiver shielding them can be revoked by the State Department at any moment.

Me: You said, “the waiver shielding them can be revoked by the State Department at any moment,” but an Executive Order cannot be overruled by the State Department!

Gemini: As a matter of constitutional law, a Cabinet department cannot unilaterally overrule or defy a Presidential Executive Order.

However, in this specific order, the Secretary of State wouldn't be overruling the Executive Order—they would be executing it. President Trump explicitly wrote a conditional sunset clause and a formal delegation of his statutory power directly into the text of the order so the State Department can flip the switch without requiring a brand-new Executive Order.

Three specific clauses in the order make this legally possible:

1. The Order's Built-In Expiration Trigger (Section 4(d))

Rather than making the waiver permanent until a future Executive Order repeals it, the President wrote a self-terminating condition directly into Section 4(d):

"The waivers described in subsections (a) through © of this section shall remain in effect until such time as the President or the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Trade Representative, as appropriate, determine that further action is appropriate."

Because the Executive Order itself states that the waiver only lasts until the Secretary of State (or the President) determines otherwise, the Secretary revoking the waiver does not contradict the order—it fulfills the exact condition the President established inside it.

2. Formal Delegation of Power (Section 5(a)(ii))

Right after setting that condition, Section 5(a)(ii) formally hands the President's statutory waiver power under the Graham Act over to the Secretary of State:

"I hereby delegate the functions and authorities vested in the President by the Graham Act as follows: ... (ii) section 115 [the waiver authority] to the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Trade Representative, as appropriate..."

3. The Legal Engine: 3 U.S.C. § 301

Notice the opening sentence of the Executive Order, where the President cites "section 301 of title 3, United States Code" alongside the Constitution and the Graham Act.

Under 3 U.S.C. § 301 (the Presidential Subdelegation Act), Congress explicitly authorizes the President to delegate any statutory function vested in the President to the head of any executive department confirmed by the Senate. Under federal administrative law, when a Cabinet Secretary exercises authority delegated under 3 U.S.C. § 301, their formal determination carries the exact same legal force as if the President had signed it personally.

Why Structure It This Way?

It comes down to bureaucratic speed, not giving away political control:

• Paperwork Agility: Sanctioning regimes often require granular adjustments—such as lifting a waiver for one specific country, company, or shipping network while leaving it in place for others. Delegating Section 115 authority allows the Secretary of State to modify or revoke parts of the waiver via a simple Federal Register notice, rather than forcing the White House Counsel's Office to draft a new Executive Order every time.
• Presidential Control Remains Absolute: Because the Secretary of State serves entirely at the pleasure of the President (and can be fired at any moment), the Secretary would never actually pull the trigger on a 100% or 500% tariff without the President's direct approval. It simply gives the White House a faster legal button to press.