Despite criticism: Democrats grant Trump new powers

After months of attacking US President Donald Trump's extensive use of tariffs, most Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of a sanctions package against Russia that grants him new and limited authority in the field, Fox News reported on Thursday. The legislation allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 500% on Russian imports and up to 100% on the five leading countries in purchasing energy from Moscow. The goal is to harm the Kremlin's revenues, but some senators fear that Trump might try to interpret the authority more broadly.

Democrats in the US Senate have opposed Trump's tariff policy time and again, but just before leaving Washington, they granted the president limited authority to use the very tool they attacked — this time as part of the economic struggle against Russia. Almost all members of the Democratic caucus in the Senate voted in favor of the sanctions package. Only nine Democrats opposed it, and they were joined by Republican Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky.

To understand the dispute, it is important to separate two things: the law does not grant Trump general authority to impose any tariff he wants. The authority included in the package is related to Russia and countries that continue to pour money into it through the purchase of energy. According to the legislation, Trump will be able to impose tariffs of up to 500% on imports from Russia. In addition, he will be able to set levies of up to 100% on the five countries that purchase the largest amounts of energy from it, including China and India.

The goal is simple: to make the continued purchase of Russian energy more expensive and thus increase economic pressure on Moscow. However, the vote placed some Democrats in a complex situation. Since the 2024 election campaign, they have been criticizing Trump's use of tariffs and arguing that, in the end, part of the cost is passed on to the American consumer.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon, who voted against the package, warned: "This grants Donald Trump new and extensive authority in the field of tariffs, which he can use to threaten our trading partners and raise prices for the American people. I believe that senators will yet regret very much that they voted to grant Donald Trump this authority."

The dispute gained renewed validity against the backdrop of the new trade war between the United States and Canada. Trump imposed tariffs of 50% on Canadian goods worth about $20 billion, which brought his trade policy back to the center of the political debate.

The measures against Canada are not part of the authority granted under the sanctions package against Russia. However, opponents of the law point to them as an example of why they fear granting the White House additional power in the field.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, who was among the promoters of the sanctions package, argued that the law includes clear boundaries and that the courts will be able to intervene if Trump deviates from them. "If Donald Trump wants to violate this law, the courts will restrain him, just as happened when he violated the law on tariffs in the past," said Blumenthal. "We cannot do more than be explicit in limiting his authority to the five largest purchasers, and only to these countries, in accordance with the conditions detailed in the legislation."

Republican Senator Rand Paul also opposed the part dealing with tariffs. Paul, who is among the few Republicans who consistently criticize Trump's use of this tool, tried together with Wyden to remove these clauses from the package. According to him, tariffs are actually an additional tax that might eventually fall on the American public. "Do not let sympathy for Ukraine blind you regarding the reality of tariffs," he warned.

Likewise, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who voted against the package, expressed concern about the expansion of the president's power. "He has already shown what he will do with broad authority to impose tariffs," she said. "Hell, he has shown what he will do even when he has no authority."

On the other hand, some of the Democrats who voted for the law sought to ensure in advance that the authority would remain limited. Senator Raphael Warnock from Georgia received a commitment from US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that the clauses in the sanctions package would apply only to the Kremlin's five largest energy partners. Warnock explained that for him, it was necessary to balance two goals — harming Russia on one hand and placing limitations on the president on the other.

"It was important to hold Vladimir Putin accountable. He is a war criminal," he said. "His aggression against Ukraine has implications for our national security. But at the same time, it was important to place some guardrails for this president. And I think I achieved significant progress to ensure that this indeed happens."

The war in Ukraine continues, and one of Russia's important sources of income is the sale of oil and energy products to other countries. Therefore, instead of settling for sanctions directed directly at Moscow, the legislation seeks to exert pressure also on the large customers who continue to purchase energy from it.

The idea is to create an economic price for those countries: if they continue to buy Russian energy in large volumes, they might encounter heavy tariffs when they sell products to the United States. The debate in the Senate does not focus only on the question of whether to punish Russia. There is a relatively broad consensus on the need to exert pressure on Moscow, but the dispute is how much power it is right to transfer to Trump to do so.

For the Democrats, this is a clear political dilemma: on one hand, they seek to intensify sanctions against Russia and harm its funding sources; on the other hand, for a long period, they themselves warned against Trump's tariff policy. The latest vote shows that when this tool is directed at a defined goal against Moscow and its trading partners — most of them were willing to support it.