Maine Senator Susan Collins has broken with Donald Trump over the president’s proposal to import Russian diesel as a means of lowering U.S. prices. In a statement issued on Sunday, Collins and six other senators urged the administration to "immediately reverse course" on the plan Trump said would see Russia release millions of tons of diesel to the global marketplace. The group of lawmakers—made up of four Republicans and three Democrats—argued that the deal runs counter to the 2022 ban on energy imports from Russia; this was enacted to "prevent American dollars from financing [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine." This comes as the country and Maine in particular grapple with elevated fuel prices.
AAA says that diesel is costing Mainers $6.45 per gallon on average as of Monday morning. This is up slightly from last week—and from $3.87 a year ago—and compares to the current nationwide average of $6.27. Newsweek has contacted Collins’s campaign outside of regular working hours for comment and is awaiting a response.
"It was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter," the president posted to Truth Social on Friday. The president went on to say that Russia would ultimately deliver a further three million tons—subject to refinery limitations. He added that this would bring down global and domestic diesel prices "IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!" On Friday, a White House official told Newsweek that the Treasury had issued a license allowing Russian diesel to reach global markets.
The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said the license would permit the "sale, delivery, offloading, and importation of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin." It added that this was being issued at the president’s direction. The administration has said the additional 4.8 million tons of fuel it believes will reach the global market "is aimed squarely at bringing prices down." The announcement followed Trump repeatedly painting high diesel prices in the U.S. as an issue with global refining capacity and Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, rather than as a direct effect from the Iran war. In a statement quoted by the Maine-based channel WMTW-TV, Collins said: "I oppose President Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on the purchase of diesel from Russia.
I was a cosponsor of the Russian sanctions law, which the president recently signed but is now not following." Collins appeared to be referring to the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. This included a selection of measures designed to ramp up economic pressure on Moscow, and which Trump signed on September 18.
And the joint bipartisan statement signed by Collins and shared on her website said that Congress "explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022” to avoid supporting the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. It continued: "President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law. The Administration has also failed to consult with Congress or submit any explanation to justify its decision as required by statute.
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