Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Pass “the Sanctioning of Russia Act of 2025”
Last week, Trump spoke privately with a group of top donors that he was growing frustrated with his efforts to negotiate a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine, as reported by the WSJ. Trump was particularly frustrated with Putin, whom he found to be a tough negotiator, and wanted “the whole thing,” referring to Ukraine.
According to the same article, he also asked his advisors “if Putin had changed since Trump’s last time in office and expressed surprise at some of Putin’s military moves, including bombing areas with children.” While the article goes on to suggest Trump believed Ukraine would be harder to convince, many in the Trump administration admit Russia is the biggest holdout to peace.
At the Munich Security Forum in Washington, Vice President JD Vance said, “We think they’re asking for too much.” He said of Russia’s position.
Russia will not come to the peace negotiating table unless it feels it is losing and/or its economy cannot continue to fight the war. The Coalition of the Willing, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Poland, understand this and were in Kyiv over the weekend with Ukraine putting together a plan to force Russia to agree to a ceasefire. The unconditional ceasefire and ways to monitor the ceasefire were discussed and agreed by President Trump.
Putin’s response was to suggest the start of peace talks on Thursday, May 15 in Turkey. Trump responded on his Truth Social that this was a good idea. Zelenskyy agreed to meet in Turkey and asked President Trump to join as well. In a press conference on May 12th, Trump said he would consider it.
There is a bill in Congress, S. 1241 and H.R. 2548, that would help the Trump Administration facilitate peace negotiations with Russia.
It proposes to maximize sanctions against Russia if Russia refuses to negotiate peace in good faith. It also pledges sustainable levels of security assistance to Ukraine to prevent another invasion if peace is reached so Ukraine can provide a credible defense and deterrent capability.
Maximum sanctions would be applied to Russian individuals and companies, including their banks, and foreign individuals who sell defense weapons to Russia. In addition, any country that buys or sells natural resources from Russia would be subject to a 500% tariff from the United States for their goods and services imported into our country. Some of the largest purchases of Russian gas and energy products include China and India. We imported $462B in products from China in 2024 and $91B in products and services from India.
If Congress passed the bill and President Trump signed it, the sanctions placed on Russia and its business partners should pain the Russian economy enough to bring them to the negotiating table. The Senate’s version of the bill already has 73 co-sponsors while the House version has 28. The American Ukraine PAC thanks all of the original co-sponsors of the bill, which include Senators Graham (SC) and Blumenthal (CT) and Representatives Fitzpatrick (PA), Quigley (IL), Wilson (SC), and Kaptur (OH).
The American Ukraine PAC asks more House members to join their colleagues to co-sponsor this bill in the House of Representatives and bring it to the floor of the House and Senate for a vote. Congress must pass these two bills to give President Trump the tools to force Russia to the peace negotiating table. Otherwise, Putin may continue to string our country along, suggesting he wants peace but with no intention to agree to it.