Republican Senator Thom Tillis has raised doubts about whether President Donald Trump’s temporary easing of sanctions on Russian diesel is lawful. Speaking on the Sunday television programme Meet the Press, Tillis argued that the relief could breach congressional law. The move is intended to bring down fuel prices that have hit record levels since the US-Israel war against Iran began.
Tillis said he believed there was a credible argument that the president was not abiding by the law. The decision has unsettled some Republican lawmakers who still back Ukraine in its war with Russia, a conflict that started in February 2022 after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its eastern European neighbour.
Tillis ties his support for Trump’s agenda to a reversal
Tillis made clear that his vote for Trump’s legislative priorities depends on the White House changing course. He pointed to funding for military operations and year-end spending beyond baseline levels as areas where the president needs his support. He added that the administration needs to recognise the problem, and that he is far from the only Republican troubled by the policy.
The same day, Tillis joined a bipartisan group of senators in a letter condemning the sanctions relief. The signatories included Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and John Curtis, along with Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal. The senators argued that Washington should not offer Vladimir Putin a financial lifeline while Russia keeps killing Ukrainian civilians, and urged the administration to reverse its decision immediately.
Representative Don Bacon, another Republican who is not seeking re-election, also said on Friday that propping up Russia’s war economy was morally wrong, because the money is being used to bomb cities. The episode highlights deeper splits within the Republican Party over the invasion. Party figures from its establishment wing have generally pushed for strong support for Kyiv, while others have grown sceptical of continued American backing for Ukraine.
Trump has also been critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing his government of obstructing a ceasefire that the US had helped negotiate. On Saturday, Trump said Ukraine should find a new leader capable of making a deal, arguing that the war should never have begun.
Administration defends diesel deal as analysts question price impact
A day before the Sunday interviews, Trump announced that a call with Putin had produced an agreement to supply 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the global market, with a further 500,000 tonnes due for delivery in November. In an interview with Fox and Friends, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the easing of some sanctions on Moscow as necessary to ease surging diesel prices. He said the administration would act using every legal authority available to it.
Analysts have said the decision is unlikely to lower prices over the long term. Tillis and other critics have pointed to existing law that bars the importation of Russian fuel, including a 2022 executive order. A law signed last month, named after the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, also prohibits US investment in Russia’s energy sector.
Much of this year’s rise in global fuel prices has been attributed to the war with Iran, which began in February. The conflict has restricted commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is critical to the fuel trade. In his Meet the Press remarks, Tillis linked the energy strain to those circumstances, saying Trump should address matters with Iran and acknowledge that Putin, not Zelenskyy, started the war, and that Putin bears responsibility for energy prices from that region.
Tillis nears the end of his Senate term
Tillis’s time in the Senate is nearly over. In June 2025 he announced he would not seek re-election in the November 3 midterm elections, after Trump threatened him with a primary challenge in his home state of North Carolina. His term ends in January, and he has become one of the most outspoken Republican critics of what he sees as overreach by the Trump administration.
Internationally, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticised the arrangement in a statement issued after a Sunday call with Zelenskyy. It said the agreement works against the efforts of Ukraine, Canada and their allies to build peace and stability in Europe. The office also said the deal would bring Russia additional revenue to fund what it described as an unjustified war against Ukraine.
