The Senate will wait until after President Donald Trump\u2019s summit with Vladimir Putin, Republican leader John Thune has said<\/p>\n
US lawmakers have postponed any further debate on new penalties targeting Moscow until after President Donald Trump meets with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Republican leader John Thune announced on Monday.
\nThe two presidents agreed during a phone call last week to meet in Hungary at an unspecified date to discuss advancing a resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Following the conversation, Trump said now is not the best time to impose new sanctions against Russia.
\n\u201dAt the moment we\u2019re kind of hitting the pause button [on the bill],\u201d Thune confirmed to reporters, as quoted by Bloomberg.
\nThe legislation would allow Trump to impose tariffs of up to 500% on imports from nations that continue to buy Russian energy \u2013 a measure aimed at major consumers such as China and India \u2013 along with other economic restrictions.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ukraine won\u2019t win the war with Russia \u2013 Trump<\/p>\n
The bill has stalled in the Senate since its introduction in April, despite support from at least 85 of the 100 senators. Thune said last week that a vote could take place within 30 days, although according to Bloomberg, Trump has so far resisted allowing it to move forward.
\nWhile the EU has tightened punitive measures against Moscow, Washington has taken a more restrained approach under Trump. The president has emphasized negotiations over escalation, using the threat of sanctions as leverage in an attempt to push Russia toward peace talks.
\nFollowing his phone call with Putin on Thursday, Trump said the two-and-a-half-hour conversation was so \u201cproductive\u201d that a peace deal could come soon.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: EU\u2019s top diplomat unhappy over Putin-Trump peace summit<\/p>\n
Moscow has consistently praised the Trump administration for what it described as a genuine desire to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict, as well as efforts to understand its root causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate will wait until after President Donald Trump\u2019s summit with Vladimir Putin, Republican leader John Thune has said US lawmakers have postponed any further debate on new penalties targeting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t