Trump's Russian Diesel Is a Legal Hot Potato With a Five-Year Fuse
A Malta-flagged tanker called the Agioi Fanendes left the Russian port of Primorsk on Oct. 22 carrying nearly 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, and ship-tracking data has it arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Nov. 7, four days after the midterm elections. Nobody has publicly said who bought the fuel, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has asked the ship’s owner to…
The Malta-flagged tanker Agioi Fanendes departed Russia on October 22, laden with close to 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel. It arrived at the Port of New York and New Jersey on November 7, just four days after the United States' midterm elections. The ship's cargo is a visible piece of a deal President Donald Trump announced on October 9, following a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump claimed the deal involved 300,000 tons of diesel to begin with, and more following that. A Treasury license was issued to authorize the trade on the same day. The import ban on Russian energy was written into law in 2022 by Congress, sparking controversy. Senator Richard Blumenthal has requested the ship's owner to identify the buyer and anyone else involved by October 31.
The license authorizing the trade covers diesel imports through April 7, 2027, but the import ban is a different matter, as it is a statute, not a license. The administration argues that the license complies with earlier actions and laws, but it remains unclear whether a court would accept this argument.
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