U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he departs the White House on the South Lawn in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision last week to temporarily ease restrictions on Russian diesel fuel exports after it drew bipartisan criticism.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump accused the media of hypocrisy for refusing to report on past Russian energy purchases by the European Union.
“The European Union paid Russia $250 billion for energy, and the fake news media doesn’t want to get anywhere near that story,” Trump wrote.
Although the president did not provide specifics, his numbers roughly track with some estimates of how much the EU has spent on fossil fuel imports from Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The European Commission has launched a plan to phase out Russia’s dependence on energy.
“I made the right choice for the American people, always America first!” Trump wrote in a social media post.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about President Trump’s decision to allow Russia to supply some diesel to the U.S. and global markets for the next six months.
The plan received pushback from several congressional Republicans who have urged Trump not to lift the ban on Russian energy imports until President Vladimir Putin ends the war with Ukraine.
“The United States should not provide President Putin with an economic lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians,” a group of seven senators, including four Republicans, said in a joint statement Sunday.
Other Republicans have also raised questions about Trump’s deal.
“While I understand the desire to lower diesel prices, I am concerned that lifting sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin’s war machine, leading to more violence and destruction as we have seen in recent days,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on Friday.
President Trump says the plan he coordinated with President Putin will help bring down soaring diesel prices as he looks ahead to potentially tough midterm elections that coincide with growing economic discontent. However, some analysts say the policy will not have a major impact.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday that US sanctions relief against Moscow “plays into Russia’s hands.”
