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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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China has hit back at what it described as "illegal unilateral sanctions" after Senator Lindsey Graham said Beijing would be among those to feel the pain of his proposed legislation, which would slap up to a 500 percent secondary tariff on those trading with Russia.
Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said the legislation has bipartisan support in Congress, and it comes as President Donald Trump threatens new secondary tariffs against Moscow to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace in Ukraine.
Trump touted a 100 percent secondary tariff if Putin does not end the war in 50 days, but Graham's bill—proposed with Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat—would give the president the power to impose much higher tariffs if he saw fit.
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Large-scale Chinese oil purchases have been a vital crutch for the sanctions-hit Russian economy during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
China: Coercion Cannot Solve Ukraine War
Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a press briefing on Tuesday, July 15, that Beijing's position on ending the Ukraine war has been consistent and clear, and that it can only be achieved through dialogue and negotiation.
"China firmly opposes any illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction," Lin said, the state-run Global Times reported.
"There are no winners in a tariff war, and coercion and pressure cannot solve problems.
"It's hoped all parties will further foster an environment and accumulate conditions to advance the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and take more actions that are conducive to peace talks."
Graham Targets 'Putin War Machine'
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Speaking to CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday, July 13, Graham said he and Blumenthal had 85 co-sponsors of the bill in the 100-member Senate.
The bill, he said, would make "a sledgehammer available to President Trump to go after Putin's economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine."
"China, India, and Brazil buy oil and petroleum products and other goods from Russia. That's the money Putin uses to prosecute the war," Graham said.
The sanctions package would give Trump "maximum flexibility" on the secondary tariff, Graham said, because he would set it at anywhere from zero to 500 percent for countries that are aiding Russia through trade.
"This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war," Graham said.
Trump Sends More Weapons Amid Russia Strikes
On top of more sanctions, Trump has also said he would send more Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, and that Europeans would pay for tranches of "sophisticated" American weapons to go there too, increasing the pressure on Putin to make peace.
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles in an intensification of its aerial attacks, while amassing troops at the border and making advances in the east of the country.
Moscow's ongoing and escalating war effort has frustrated Trump, who is trying to broker a peace deal, and he has openly criticized Putin.
"My conversations with [Putin] are very pleasant, and then the missiles go off at night," Trump said at the White House on Monday, adding that "it just keeps going on and on and on."
The Kremlin's Dmitry Medvedev shrugged off Trump's latest moves on Ukraine.
"Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin," Medvedev, Putin's deputy on the Security Council of Russia, posted on social media.
"The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn't care," said Medvedev, a former president and prime minister of Russia.
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