US House Set to Vote on Russia Sanctions Bill That Could Expose India to 100% Tariffs

The US House of Representatives is heading toward a final floor vote on a sweeping Russia sanctions bill that could hand President Donald Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries that continue buying large volumes of Russian oil and gas, with India once again finding itself in the middle of Washington's pressure campaign against Moscow.

The legislation, known as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, cleared the Senate by an overwhelming 86-11 vote back in early August. It has since moved through the House Rules Committee, which took it up for consideration this week, and lawmakers are racing to push it through before the chamber breaks for an early recess ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

The India amendment that didn't survive

Much of the recent attention around the bill has centred on an amendment from Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer, which sought to explicitly name ten countries, including India, China, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Slovakia, the UAE, Singapore, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic, as eligible for the tariff provision. Hoyer's stated goal was to remove ambiguity and stop what he described as room for manipulation of data in deciding which countries would actually face the duties.

The House Rules Committee ultimately did not adopt that amendment. It also rejected a competing proposal from Congressman Gregory Meeks and several co-sponsors that would have stripped out Section 113 altogether, the clause that hands the President broad secondary-tariff powers over Russia's energy trading partners. Instead, the bill advances with the Senate's original language intact, which does not name individual countries but instead targets the five largest importers of Russian oil and gas by volume and the five biggest facilitators of sanctions evasion. Given India's position as one of the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude since 2022, it would likely still fall within that generic definition even without being named outright.

What this does and doesn't mean for India

It is worth being precise about what is actually on the table. Even if the House passes the bill this week and Trump signs it, as he has indicated he would, the legislation does not automatically impose a 100 percent tariff on Indian goods. It creates a mechanism that authorises the President to impose duties up to that ceiling on qualifying countries, with the actual rate and implementation left to subsequent executive action. Headlines suggesting tariffs have already landed on India would be getting ahead of the process.

The stakes are nevertheless real for Indian exporters. India has leaned heavily on discounted Russian crude to manage its energy import bill since the Ukraine war began, and New Delhi has consistently defended those purchases as a matter of energy security and national interest rather than politics. That position was reiterated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Delhi, where both sides spoke of deepening trade ties.

Within the House itself, the tariff provision has split Democrats. Some, like Congressmen Don Beyer, Meeks and Richard Neal, back tough action on Russia but warn that widening presidential tariff powers could raise prices for American consumers while doing little to change Moscow's calculus. Republicans, along with the Senate's bipartisan majority, view the tariff threat as necessary leverage to choke off revenue funding Russia's war in Ukraine.

For now, India's exposure remains a possibility tied to future decisions rather than an active measure, but the bill's progress through Congress this week is one to watch closely given how directly it could reshape trade costs for Indian exporters to the US.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.