LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Let's get a view from Capitol Hill on President Trump's decision to waive new Russia sanctions. Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia is on the line. Congressman, good morning and welcome back to the program.
DON BEYER: Thank you, Leila, very much.
FADEL: So you've called President Trump's move a, quote, "surrender to Putin." What makes it a surrender, in your view?
BEYER: Well, back to the historic mistake that Zelenskyy has just mentioned. So far, it's been like Munich in 1938, where Trump has just done his best to appease Putin again and again. But now we unfortunately passed this Lindsey Graham bill to put sanctions on Russia and give Trump basically unlimited tariff authority against anybody who wanted. And the first thing he'd done is waive those sanctions on Russia.
FADEL: Well, let me ask you about that because in the executive order, the president also says that the sanctions law on Russia and Iran, which is named for Lindsey Graham, it's supposed to cut off revenue for Russia's war in Ukraine, but actually gives him the power to waive the sanctions. That's right?
BEYER: It does, which was - we pointed out at the time this is a bad bill. But not only did he waive the sanctions, but he also announced, you know, a $4 billion purchase of diesel fuel, which was clearly illegal with the '19 - or 2022 law that said we can't buy any of that oil from Russia.
FADEL: In your statement, you call on Congress to fix this flawed law. What would that look like?
BEYER: Well, just right away, before we passed the Lindsey Graham bill, the House had already passed a bill that placed the sanctions on Russia, did not give Trump the ability to waive them, and also didn't give him this new tariff authority. We need to bring that bill back right away.
FADEL: Now, in a Truth Social post on Sunday, President Trump justified his decision by saying he wants to avoid driving Russia away from the bargaining table. Does relaxing sanctions on Russia make it easier for the U.S. to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine?
BEYER: That strategy certainly hasn't worked for the last 4 1/2 years. Also Trump has gone after Zelenskyy again and again, pointing out that he doesn't want peace. The news that I read says Zelenskyy has said again he will do anything he can to stop attacking Russia as long as Russia stops attacking them.
FADEL: Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday that waiving sanctions is about the global economy. Let's just listen to what he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARCO RUBIO: The problem is these sanctions were not just sanctions on Russia. They include tariffs on a number of countries - India, for example, and others. And so I think the president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the U.S. economy.
FADEL: Congressman, does this make sense to you?
BEYER: That's laughable. This is the same man, the same president, who's imposed, for example, 50% tariffs on India at one time, 39% against Switzerland. He's imposed tariffs all over the world for the flimsiest of reasons. The notion that he's concerned about tariffs right now doesn't make any sense.
FADEL: Now, the other thing that the president has said, he blames not his war on Iran, but Ukraine's attacks on Russian diesel fuel targets for driving up oil prices. As a member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, how do you see it?
BEYER: Well, given that we've had sanctions against Russia for the last number of years on buying oil, it makes no sense at all to say that the Russia-Ukraine war was driving up prices. We look back before he attacked Iran, and gas prices were down in the low $2 - diesel prices were 4. It's the war in Iran that has given us the highest diesel prices in the history of the country.
FADEL: Could a pause on sanctions provide relief for American consumers?
BEYER: Every economist I've seen, specialists in fossil fuels, say even with the $4 billion of diesel fuel, it wouldn't make but a penny or two difference on diesel prices.
FADEL: What would you want to see - go ahead.
BEYER: It wouldn't do it.
FADEL: What would you want to see the president do in this moment?
BEYER: Stand with Ukraine, with the rest of our allies in Europe, with democracies around the world, and stand up to, you know, the first major invasion in Europe since World War II.
FADEL: How are your Republican colleagues reacting to his decision?
BEYER: It's mixed, but the ones that I respect most have been horrified. This is not what they intended when they passed the Lindsey Graham bill. And I think almost every Democrat and most Republicans want us to back Ukraine strongly.
FADEL: Neither Ukraine nor Russia has adhered to what Trump announced as a, quote, "energy ceasefire," refraining from striking at energy facilities. Could this sanctions waiver improve the chances for such a deal? Would it make it worse?
BEYER: That's a perfect world, but I think it will make it worse. By the way, he announced that ceasefire without talking to either Russia or Ukraine. Both were surprised by his announcement.
FADEL: Don Beyer is a Democratic member of Congress from Virginia. Thank you so much for your time, Congressman.
BEYER: Thank you, Leila.
FADEL: And we'll note that we asked a number of Republican lawmakers if they'd like to join us this morning. Those invitations remain open. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
