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The bill, which Senator Lindsey Graham said could be taken up in Congress as early as next week, would authorise tariffs of up to 500% on imports from countries continuing to purchase discounted Russian crude.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has approved draft legislation that would allow Washington to impose steep tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, including India, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Thursday.

The bill, which Graham said could be taken up in Congress as early as next week, would authorise tariffs of up to 500% on imports from countries continuing to purchase discounted Russian crude.

“This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivise them” to stop buying Russian oil, Graham said, adding that such purchases were “fuelling Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine”.

Once enacted, the legislation would enable Trump to “punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fuelling [Vladimir] Putin’s war machine,” the senator said, expressing confidence that the measure would receive bipartisan backing.

Graham said the timing was significant, arguing that Kyiv had shown willingness to make concessions for peace, while Russia continued military operations. “This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent,” he said.

The comments follow Graham’s remarks earlier this week that the proposed tariff rate would range “from 0 to 500”. “He [Trump] picks the number,” Graham told reporters. “Nobody else does.”

Graham said the aim was to make buying Russian oil a difficult choice for importing countries. “If you’re buying cheap Russian oil, keeping Putin’s war machine going, we’re trying to give the president the ability [through the bill] to make that a hard choice by tariffs,” he said.

He also claimed that U.S. pressure had already had an impact on India. Graham said the Indian ambassador had told him privately that New Delhi was reducing Russian oil purchases and had urged him to ask Trump to ease tariffs linked to such imports.

Standing alongside Trump, Graham said countries buying Russian oil must be pressured if the war in Ukraine is to end. He added that what Trump “did with India is the chief reason India is now buying substantially less Russian oil”.

India is currently facing a combined U.S. tariff rate of 50% in the absence of a trade deal with Washington, including a 25% reciprocal duty imposed on August 7 and an additional 25% punitive levy imposed on August 27.

Trump has repeatedly said that purchases of discounted Russian oil by countries such as India were helping finance Moscow’s war effort. He told reporters that Washington could further raise tariffs on India if it does not cut such imports, and reiterated earlier this week that the levies had already reduced India’s Russian oil intake.

New Delhi has consistently said its energy policy is guided by the need to ensure stable prices and secure supplies.