Sanctions Bill Targets China for Enabling Putin's War in Ukraine
The bill introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) would require the administration to target Chinese 'entities and individuals' that have helped sustain the Russian defense industry despite enormous battlefield losses and widespread Western sanctions imposed since the start of the war.
'To finally bring Putin to the negotiating table and end this war, the United States must hold Chinese companies, CEOs, and banks accountable for this activity,' Shaheen, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat, said in a statement singling out the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The bill is among the efforts by Ukraine's supporters in Congress seeking to take advantage of President Donald Trump's recent pivot away from Moscow, where the Russian leader has spurned his efforts to broker a peace deal. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin and on Tuesday set a 10-day deadline for the Kremlin to stop the fighting, warning that a failure to comply would invite punishing new sanctions.
On Friday, Trump said on social media that he had directed the Pentagon to dispatch two nuclear submarines to 'the appropriate regions.' The president's Truth Social post was aimed at Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's security council, who has ridiculed Trump's ultimatum.
In a statement, the White House said: 'The Constitution vests the president with the authority to conduct diplomacy with foreign nations. Any sanction package must provide complete flexibility for the president to continue to pursue his desired foreign policy.'
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Russian Embassy.
While courting Putin earlier this year, Trump complained publicly about Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, while baselessly accusing the government in Kyiv of perpetuating the war. The president's change in tone has provided cover for Republican defense hawks, such as Cornyn, to push more aggressively against Russia.
'By imposing sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals who advance Putin's aggression, this legislation would deliver a significant blow to bad actors in Beijing and Moscow alike and bring us one step closer to President Trump's goal of ending the war in Ukraine,' Cornyn said in a separate statement.
China has been one of Russia's closest backers in the conflict following a summit between the two countries' leaders, who promised a 'no limits' partnership shortly before the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Chinese firms have supplied an estimated 70 percent of the equipment Russia has needed to refill its supply of missiles, drones and other munitions throughout the war, said a Democratic congressional aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive matter.
China has avoided sending direct lethal support, in part out of concern that the U.S. and its allies would impose financial penalties on Beijing, the aide said. Still, in July, the European Commission levied its first sanctions on Chinese firms 'for supplying goods used on the battlefield.'
North Korea and Iran also have come to Putin's aid, allowing the Russian military to replenish its substantial combat losses.
While unlikely itself to pass, the bill presents a more tailored option next to a severe sanctions package on Russia introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). That bill, which has 84 co-sponsors, would impose 500 percent tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian uranium and gas, all but cleaving them from the U.S. economy.
The legislation introduced Friday would also direct the administration to work with U.S. allies on further sanctions to limit China's support for Russia and to assess whether to target Chinese defense firms.
While the Trump administration has made concessions to China while negotiating a trade deal and a potential summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters he raised the issue of Beijing's support for Russia's war in trade talks this week.
'The Chinese take their sovereignty very seriously,' Bessent said. 'We don't want to impede on their sovereignty, so if they'd like to pay a 100 percent tariff, pay it,' Bessent said of the possible penalty.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
4 hours ago
- Japan Times
U.S. museum says Trump administration did not compel impeachment display removal
The recent removal of a placard at the National Museum of American History that detailed President Donald Trump's two impeachments did not come after White House pressure, the museum's parent organization said Saturday. The placard was meant to be temporary and "did not meet the museum's standards in appearance, location, timeline and overall presentation," the Smithsonian Institution said in a statement on X. "It was not consistent with other sections in the exhibit and moreover blocked the view of the objects inside its case. For these reasons, we removed the placard. "We were not asked by any administration or other government official to remove content from the exhibit." The Smithsonian statement came after The Washington Post reported Thursday that the museum last month removed the placard describing Trump's impeachments and reverted to old signage that said "only three presidents have seriously faced removal" — Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. The Post said the removal stemmed from a Smithsonian content review after the White House pressured the organization to remove a director of one of its art museums. Trump is the only American president to have been impeached twice — first in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, then in 2021 for inciting an insurrection. He was acquitted by the Senate both times. Since starting his second term in January, the Republican has moved to control major cultural institutions while slashing arts and humanities funding. In March, Trump signed an executive order to "restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness" and "remove improper ideology." The order accused the institution of having "come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology" and argued the shift has promoted narratives that portray American values as "inherently harmful and oppressive." The impeachment exhibit "will be updated in the coming weeks to reflect all impeachment proceedings in our nation's history," the Smithsonian said in its statement.
The Mainichi
9 hours ago
- The Mainichi
From Laos to Brazil, Trump's tariffs leave a lot of losers. But even the winners will pay a price
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught this week left a lot of losers -- from small, poor countries like Laos and Algeria to wealthy U.S. trading partners like Canada and Switzerland. They're now facing especially hefty taxes -- tariffs -- on the products they export to the United States starting Aug. 7. The closest thing to winners may be the countries that caved to Trump's demands -- and avoided even more pain. But it's unclear whether anyone will be able to claim victory in the long run -- even the United States, the intended beneficiary of Trump's protectionist policies. "In many respects, everybody's a loser here,'' said Barry Appleton, co-director of the Center for International Law at the New York Law School. Barely six months after he returned to the White House, Trump has demolished the old global economic order. Gone is one built on agreed-upon rules. In its place is a system in which Trump himself sets the rules, using America's enormous economic power to punish countries that won't agree to one-sided trade deals and extracting huge concessions from the ones that do. "The biggest winner is Trump," said Alan Wolff, a former U.S. trade official and deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization. "He bet that he could get other countries to the table on the basis of threats, and he succeeded -- dramatically.'' Everything goes back to what Trump calls "Liberation Day'' -- April 2 -- when the president announced "reciprocal'' taxes of up to 50% on imports from countries with which the United States ran trade deficits and 10% "baseline'' taxes on almost everyone else. He invoked a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his sweeping import taxes. That allowed him to bypass Congress, which traditionally has had authority over taxes, including tariffs -- all of which is now being challenged in court. Winners will still pay higher tariffs than before Trump took office Trump retreated temporarily after his Liberation Day announcement triggered a rout in financial markets and suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate. Eventually, some of them did, caving to Trump's demands to pay what four months ago would have seemed unthinkably high tariffs for the privilege of continuing to sell into the vast American market. The United Kingdom agreed to 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States -- up from 1.3% before Trump amped up his trade war with the world. The U.S. demanded concessions even though it had run a trade surplus, not a deficit, with the UK for 19 straight years. The European Union and Japan accepted U.S. tariffs of 15%. Those are much higher than the low single-digit rates they paid last year -- but lower than the tariffs he was threatening (30% on the EU and 25% on Japan). Also cutting deals with Trump and agreeing to hefty tariffs were Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Even countries that saw their tariffs lowered from April without reaching a deal are still paying much higher tariffs than before Trump took office. Angola's tariff, for instance, dropped to 15% from 32% in April, but in 2022 it was less than 1.5%. And while Trump administration cut Taiwan's tariff to 20% from 32% in April, the pain will still be felt. "20% from the beginning has not been our goal, we hope that in further negotiations we will get a more beneficial and more reasonable tax rate," Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te told reporters in Taipei Friday. Trump also agreed to reduce the tariff on the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho to 15% from the 50% he'd announced in April, but the damage may already have been done there. Bashing Brazil, clobbering Canada, shellacking the Swiss Countries that didn't knuckle under -- and those that found other ways to incur Trump's wrath -- got hit harder. Even some poorer countries were not spared. Laos' annual economic output comes to $2,100 per person and Algeria's $5,600 -- versus America's $75,000. Nonetheless, Laos got rocked with a 40% tariff and Algeria with a 30% levy. Trump slammed Brazil with a 50% import tax largely because he didn't like the way it was treating former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for trying to lose his electoral defeat in 2022. Never mind that the U.S. has exported more to Brazil than it's imported every year since 2007. Trump's decision to plaster a 35% tariff on longstanding U.S. ally Canada was partly designed to threaten Ottawa for saying it would recognize a Palestinian state. Trump is a staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Switzerland was clobbered with a 39% import tax -- even higher than the 31% Trump originally announced on April 2. "The Swiss probably wish that they had camped in Washington'' to make a deal, said Wolff, now senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "They're clearly not at all happy.'' Fortunes may change if Trump's tariffs are upended in court. Five American businesses and 12 states are suing the president, arguing that his Liberation Day tariffs exceeded his authority under the 1977 law. In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, agreed and blocked the tariffs, although the government was allowed to continue collecting them while its appeal wend its way through the legal system, and may likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a hearing Thursday, the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sounded skeptical about Trump's justifications for the tariffs. "If (the tariffs) get struck down, then maybe Brazil's a winner and not a loser,'' Appleton said. Paying more for knapsacks and video games Trump portrays his tariffs as a tax on foreign countries. But they are actually paid by import companies in the U.S. who try to pass along the cost to their customers via higher prices. True, tariffs can hurt other countries by forcing their exporters to cut prices and sacrifice profits -- or risk losing market share in the United States. But economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that overseas exporters have absorbed just one-fifth of the rising costs from tariffs, while Americans and U.S. businesses have picked up the most of the tab. Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Ford, Best Buy, Adidas, Nike, Mattel and Stanley Black & Decker, have all hiked prices due to U.S. tariffs "This is a consumption tax, so it disproportionately affects those who have lower incomes,'' Appleton said. "Sneakers, knapsacks ... your appliances are going to go up. Your TV and electronics are going to go up. Your video game devices, consoles are going to up because none of those are made in America.'' Trump's trade war has pushed the average U.S. tariff from 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18.3% now, the highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. And that will impose a $2,400 cost on the average household, the lab estimates. "The U.S. consumer's a big loser," Wolff said.
Nikkei Asia
9 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
China and Russia collaborate in global spread of surveillance states
Comment Political meddling in Georgia shows threat of growing authoritarian coordination Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to expand their countries' influence in Georgia, a crucial South Caucasus link between Asia and Europe. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters) HIROYUKI AKITA TBILISI, Georgia -- It was a rare instance of a senior Chinese official speaking with unusual candor: On July 2, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told European Union top diplomat Kaja Kallas that he does not want to see Russia lose the war in Ukraine.
