Trump did exactly what was expected of him. Congress passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. The Act was intended to force the President to step up pressure on Russia: up to 500 per cent tariffs on Russian goods and up to 100 per cent tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. Trump signed it on 18 September. The new restrictions were due to come into force on 18 October. On the evening of 16 October, Trump formally imposed the measures provided for by the Act and, by the same executive order, immediately suspended them. “By this order, I am canceling the application of the sanctions, restrictions, and duties provided for in the Graham Act. I have submitted to Congress a formal confirmation that the cancellation of these measures at this time is in the national interest of the United States.” The suspension will remain in force until Trump himself or his administration decides that the time has come for “further action”. In other words, there is no specific time limit. Congress had created a mechanism to put pressure on the main source of funding for Russia’s war. Trump exploited a loophole in that very law and disabled this mechanism before it had even come into effect. A week ago, the administration had already agreed to ease sanctions so that Russian fuel could return to the market and help bring prices down ahead of the mid-term elections. Even six Republican senators, alongside Democrats, demanded that Trump scrap this agreement, warning that it would provide Russia with the funds to continue the war. The new sanctions were intended to force China, India and other major buyers of Russian energy resources to make a choice: continue to finance Russia or risk losing access to the US market. Kirill Dmitriev has already described Trump’s decision as a ‘historic moment’ and stated outright that the law could effectively have brought economic cooperation between Russia and the US to a halt. Trump is the KGB’s most successful project in history.