Washington: The US House of Representatives has cleared the way for a final vote on legislation that would give President Donald Trump the power to slap tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods from India if New Delhi remains among the world’s largest buyers of Russian crude.
On Tuesday evening, the House adopted a procedural rule by a razor-thin 214–211 margin, with two Democrats crossing the aisle to join Republicans. The vote was not passage of the bill itself. It sets up a final House vote on Wednesday on the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, already approved by the Senate 86–11 on 7 August. If the House concurs with the Senate text, the measure goes to Trump, who has backed it. Congress then heads into an early recess after Thursday and returns only on 9 November after the midterm elections.
The Senate text does not name India. Section 113 would apply to any country that ranked among the five largest importers, by volume, of Russian crude oil or natural gas in the 12 months before enactment and then continues to buy after a 30-day grace period. It would also cover the five jurisdictions judged to have done most to help Russia evade energy sanctions. China and India are the two biggest buyers of Russian crude. India has accounted for roughly 36–38 per cent of Russia’s oil exports; Russian barrels made up more than 40 per cent of India’s crude imports in May and more than half in June. Scaling those volumes down inside 30 days would be extremely hard, especially while Strait of Hormuz traffic remains constrained.
A House amendment filed by Democrat Steny Hoyer would go further and list India by name, along with China, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Slovakia, the UAE, Singapore, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as countries eligible for the 100 per cent duties. The listing would not automatically impose the tariff. It would put India on the eligible list if Trump chose to use the authority. A rival amendment from Democrat Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would strip the tariff section altogether, arguing it hands the president “unchecked” tariff power. The Rules Committee listed both amendments before the Tuesday vote.
The original 2025 draft sought tariffs of up to 500 per cent on buyers of Russian energy. The July 2026 rewrite cut the cap to 100 per cent and limited it to the top five purchasers, with waiver language described by sponsors as narrow. European gas buyers that take less than 15 per cent of Russia’s gas exports and are cutting those volumes can be exempted. The bill also extends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 through 2031 and tightens measures against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to move oil outside the price-cap regime.
For India the stakes are commercial as well as diplomatic. Discounted Russian crude has cut the import bill and helped contain inflation since 2022. Indian refiners insist purchases comply with existing sanctions. A 100 per cent levy on Indian goods entering the US would sit on top of tariffs already in force and hit exporters of pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering goods and IT-linked services. New Delhi has long argued that energy security and price, not geopolitics, drive its sourcing, and that it has not violated US sanctions.
Passage is not guaranteed to produce an immediate tariff. The president would still have to designate India and set a rate. Markets, however, will price the risk as soon as the House votes. The bill is designed to squeeze Moscow’s war chest by squeezing its best customers. India, the second-largest of those customers, is now squarely in the frame.
