White House considers pacts with Moscow before Ukraine War ends

Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

United States officials are considering finalizing new agreements with Russia even before the conflict in Ukraine ends, an American newspaper reported, citing sources. However, despite reports that the White House wants to sign deals with the Kremlin, US President Donald Trump signed a law that can impose 100% tariffs on countries that purchase oil and gas from Russia.

According to The New York Times, although anti-Russian sanctions are meant to pressure the Kremlin, President Donald Trump is pursuing a different approach and wants to offer Russia favorable terms to reach a deal.

“The White House is now considering signing business deals with Russia before it stops fighting in Ukraine, according to two people close to the talks,” the Times reported. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “deals with Russia before the end of the war were possible because they would show that the United States is serious about a reset relationship with Russia.”

Sources who were not identified told the newspaper that this is a new Washington strategy for resolving the conflict in Ukraine. The type of agreements under consideration was not specified.

This new approach seemingly marks a departure from Washington’s pledge last year that no commercial deals would be made with Russia “until we get the war settled.”

At an event in North Carolina on September 16, President Donald Trump said his diplomats were working to end the conflict in Ukraine and promised that a deal would be reached soon.

“We’re working very hard to get Russia, Ukraine. I ended eight wars. And the one that’s the toughest is Russia, Ukraine. … But it’s all going to end very soon,” speaking at an event in North Carolina on September 16.

Earlier this month, the US intensified its mediation efforts. On September 5, Trump’s representatives, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, arrived in Moscow to meet with President Vladimir Putin. The next day, they traveled to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

Both the Russian and US sides described those contacts as productive, allowing trilateral negotiations with US participation to resume.

The NYT also reported that the Trump administration wants to create more incentives for members of the Russian elite to push for peace, and that executing some business deals before the war ends “could help convince anti-American hawks around Mr. Putin that Mr. Trump really does want to create a new relationship with Russia.”

However, the newspaper’s claims contradict Washington’s actual legal actions. On September 18, Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, named after the hawkish Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July. The sweeping new law is aimed at cutting off revenue that allegedly funds Moscow’s war efforts and authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on products from the five largest importers of Russian oil and gas — including China and India — and targets Russian officials, banks, and the so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to bypass Western restrictions. Countries that buy less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas and are reducing their dependence are exempt. Trump has the authority to waive these tariffs, so they are not automatic.

Senator Darline Graham, the sister of Lindsey Graham, who was appointed to complete her late brother’s Senate term, said in a statement the day the bill was signed: “I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud. Lindsey believed this bill, which he worked on for well over a year, would help end the war through squeezing Putin economically and forcing his customers to reevaluate their relationship with Russia.”

Many Democrats criticized the bill’s broad provisions, arguing that it granted Trump excessive power to impose tariffs. Despite a US Supreme Court ruling that such actions are prohibited under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the US president has already imposed tariffs on several countries.

“Why in the world would this Congress or the People’s House give this president unfettered authority to visit more tariffs on the world that will have an adverse economic impact on the American people?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said when he laid out his opposition to the bill. “I can’t do it.”

However, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who also drafted the law, said after the House passed the legislation on September 16 that if “[Lindsey Graham] were here today, he would be jubilant about our bill’s passage — and already thinking about the next one.” Blumenthal added, “Putin is a thug who understands only force and strength, which is what we must show clearly and unequivocally.”

In this way, a contradiction remains. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that further US sanctions would make a peace settlement harder. Whether Trump uses the new tariff power or holds it in reserve while his envoys continue discussions with the Kremlin about a reset is now the central question and remains to be answered.