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U.S. Sanctions Zigzag in New World of Economic Warfare
With oil prices in mind, the Trump administration has deployed a haphazard approach to sanctions on Russia and Iran.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, where he said the decision to extend the waiver on sales of Russia oil came after developing countries lobbied him.
Credit...
Kenny Holston/The New York Times
By
Alan Rappeport
and
Ephrat Livni
Reporting from Washington
April 26, 2026,
5:02 a.m. ET
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared in mid-April that the United States would not extend a waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil. Two days later, on a Friday evening, the Treasury Department quietly issued
another 30-day reprieve
.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, condemned the waiver, saying, ”Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war.” Senate Democrats called the 180-degree reversal a “shameful” decision.
Then, on Friday, Mr. Bessent
told The Associated Press
that the United States did not plan to renew the waiver for sales of Russian oil another time. The current waiver
ends on May 16
.
The about-face on Russian oil sanctions underscored the haphazard state of U.S. statecraft as the Trump administration confronts the fallout from the war it and Israel started with Iran. While the United States could once use its financial might to
cripple the economies of adversaries
, countries such as Russia and Iran have been using their leverage in energy markets to fight back. That has forced the Treasury Department, which oversees the U.S. sanctions program, to improvise.
The Trump administration
rolled out a blitz of sanctions
on Friday, targeting 40 shipping firms and vessels that it identified as part of Iran’s so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers as it broadened its efforts to cripple the Iranian economy. The administration also imposed sanctions on an independent Chinese refinery, Hengli Petrochemical Refinery, which is one of Iran’s largest customers for crude oil and other petroleum products.
At a Senate hearing last week, Mr. Bessent said that the decision to extend the Russia license came after developing countries lobbied him to keep more Russian oil on the market while they were in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
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