Bipartisan senators are pressing President Trump to rescind a Russian diesel arrangement they call a betrayal of allies, even as he defends it as relief for a world market hit by high prices.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has sent a letter to President Donald Trump demanding he scrap the recently announced diesel arrangement with Russia and rescind Treasury Department General License No. 135. Fox News reported the missive also went to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The senators argue the license lifts sanctions on Russia’s diesel exports and hands Moscow fresh revenue. Trump has framed the same arrangement as a direct answer to high diesel prices weighing on the global market and on American farmers, ranchers, and truckers.
Signers include Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Alan Stuart Armstrong of Oklahoma, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and John Cornyn of Texas, along with Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Chris Coons of Delaware.
In the letter, the senators state their core objection in blunt terms.
"The Treasury Department’s General License No. 135, which lifts sanctions on Russia’s diesel exports, only provides Putin with more fuel to finance his war machine and enables Russia to continue its brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war. This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded,"
They acknowledge the pressure on household energy costs and disruptions tied to the war with Iran. Then they dismiss the price benefit.
"We also recognize the urgent need to lower energy costs for American families and address the disruptions caused by the war with Iran. However, allowing Russian-origin diesel into global markets will offer limited to no relief to Americans. It will have a negligible impact on fuel prices, but the revenues the Kremlin will receive from this agreement will undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition and advance its security cooperation with China, Iran, and North Korea. It will also endanger servicemembers operating overseas in support of Operation Epic Fury,"
The letter closes by calling Vladimir Putin a tyrant and urging Trump to withdraw, rescind the license, and use authorities under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.
Trump addressed the arrangement on Tuesday when asked whether he had been told Russia would not use diesel revenue for bombs against Ukraine. He rejected the premise that the supply was earmarked for the United States.
"told me anything. That's a diesel deal not for us. That's being released into the world. That's not being released to us. That's a diesel deal that's gonna be released into the world for the world market, because the world market suffered with high prices,"
He added that Russia is “releasing it to the entire world.”
That stance tracks the volume schedule he posted on Truth Social the prior Friday after what he called a highly successful discussion with Putin. Trump locked in Russian diesel shipments in those public remarks and laid out specific tonnage.
"I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter. Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel."
He tied the release to lower prices and to U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz, calling cheaper diesel for Americans, especially farmers, ranchers, and truckers, his greatest priority. He also stated that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
Just The News reported a related bipartisan statement that goes further on legal grounds. Senators including Shaheen, Collins, Blumenthal, Murkowski, Ron Wyden, Tillis, and John Curtis argued the move collides with the 2022 Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act.
That law bans such imports unless the president certifies to Congress that Russia has withdrawn from Ukraine, poses no immediate NATO threat, and recognizes Ukrainian self-determination. The senators say no such certification has occurred and that the administration failed to consult Congress or submit the required explanation.
Their statement put the charge this way: “Congress explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022 to prevent American dollars from financing Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine.” It continued that Trump’s decision “runs directly counter to that law.”
The same lawmakers who now demand rescission have watched diesel costs climb amid supply strain. Trump has treated price relief as the non-negotiable test. His America First energy stance puts domestic fuel costs ahead of process objections from Capitol Hill.
The senators’ letter links diesel revenue to Russia’s war against Ukraine and to deeper security ties with China, Iran, and North Korea. It warns of risk to U.S. service members overseas. Those are serious claims, and they come from both parties, including senior Republicans who rarely break with a Republican White House on foreign policy.
Trump’s answer has been consistent: the barrels are headed into the world market, not a special pipeline into American tanks, and the point is to break high prices that have punished consumers and commercial drivers. He has defended the imports as the right call for drivers who feel every spike at the pump.
Photo records place some of the letter’s Republican signers together at a June 11, 2025, Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Separate imagery shows Trump greeting Putin on Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, the relationship backdrop for the diesel discussion he later described.
None of the material supplied independent confirmation of actual deliveries completed or a full public text of General License No. 135 beyond the senators’ description. The absolute dates of the letter, the Tuesday exchange, and the Friday Truth Social post are not fixed in the reporting. What is fixed is the clash itself: a White House focused on tonnage and price, and a bipartisan Senate bloc focused on sanctions architecture and Ukraine.
Trump has also pursued broader energy diplomacy with Moscow and Kyiv. An energy ceasefire track sits in the same portfolio as the diesel volumes he announced. Lawmakers want the license torn up anyway.
Farmers, truckers, and families still buy diesel in dollars and cents. Presidents who ignore that arithmetic lose the argument at the ballot box. Senators who ignore it risk sounding more devoted to process than to the people paying the freight.
