President Donald Trump's surprise deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel is drawing fire from both parties in Congress, and the fallout is reaching Iowa, where $6-a-gallon diesel has become a midterm campaign issue.
Trump announced the agreement last week as a way to ease pump prices ahead of the November elections, but a dozen senators and House members from both parties say the move violates U.S. law and hands a financial lifeline to Moscow's war machine. The Associated Press reported the growing frustration on Capitol Hill on Monday, and News18 carried the account.
What the Trump-Putin diesel deal would do
Under the agreement, Trump said, hundreds of tons of Russian diesel would flow into the United States. The president framed it as relief for American consumers and producers.
“Anything that could help our farmers, our ranchers, I like,” Trump said Monday outside the White House.
Asked about Republican criticism, Trump dismissed it, saying his critics “can't really be serious.” He also blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for America's high diesel costs and said he should step aside, an idea Zelenskyy has rejected.
Why Iowa Republicans are nervous
Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Iowa Republican locked in a competitive Senate race against Democrat Josh Turek, did not mince words when asked about the deal. Diesel prices near $6 a gallon have become a flashpoint in Iowa, where fuel costs ripple through every acre of corn, soybeans and livestock in the state.
“It makes me a little bit nervous anytime we're talking about relieving a sanction on Russia,” Hinson said, according to the AP.
The comment is notable because Hinson has generally been a reliable Trump ally. Her willingness to break publicly signals the political risk the Russia deal carries, even in farm country, where voters want cheaper fuel but remain skeptical of anything that strengthens Putin.
Does the deal actually lower fuel prices?
Energy experts say probably not. According to the AP's reporting, analysts say Russian diesel is unlikely to move U.S. prices, which have climbed largely because of disruptions tied to the U.S. conflict with Iran rather than a shortage of supply.
A bipartisan group of six senators urged Trump over the weekend to reverse course, saying the U.S. “should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline.” On Tuesday, six Republicans and six Democrats followed with a letter arguing that allowing Russian diesel into global markets would have a negligible effect on prices while the revenue “will undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition” and deepen Russia's security cooperation with China, Iran and North Korea.
“It will also endanger service members operating overseas in support of Operation Epic Fury,” the senators wrote.
The legal problem Congress says Trump has
The core of the legal fight traces to spring 2022, when Congress banned imports of Russian energy products as Putin's army rolled into Ukraine. The House passed that bill 414-17, and the Senate approved it without a single dissenting vote. The law allows a president to lift the ban only after a Russian withdrawal agreement has been reached, reviewed by Congress and accepted by Ukraine's government.
“Trump is directly violating that law,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, the bill's chief sponsor, in a statement Monday. He accused Trump of illegally rewarding “his pal Putin while once again blaming Zelenskyy for not capitulating to Putin.”
Complicating matters, Congress last month passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill named for the late GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, which Trump signed into law. Most of its provisions take effect Oct. 18, at the end of the administration's 30-day review period. The diesel deal now puts enforcement of that law in doubt, according to the