Republican US Senator Thom Tillis on Sunday said President Donald Trump’s diesel supply deal with Russia may be illegal and will put American lives at risk, adding to bipartisan criticism of the arrangement announced by the president on Friday.
Trump said that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets, and his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its war on Ukraine.
“I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law,” said Tillis, an influential Republican from North Carolina who is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in January.
Prices for diesel, used for agriculture, heating homes and trucking, are near record highs and could hurt Trump’s fellow Republicans in next month’s congressional elections that will determine whether they maintain their thin majorities in Congress.
Analysts have said Trump’s agreement with Moscow was unlikely to lead to sustained lower fuel prices.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Sunday that the Trump administration will follow through with the deal using existing legal authority, adding that the agreement was good for the American people and would bring prices down.
