US President Donald J. Trump has said he is open to ending sanctions on Russia in exchange for a nuclear arms reduction deal with the Kremlin. “[L]et’s see if we can get some good deals with Russia,” he said.
Trump has the authority to reverse sanctions because the Obama administration used executive orders to mandate them. In March 2014, the Obama administration imposed a set of sanctions on Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea. These sanctions were put in place by executive order (EO 13660) and have been reinforced by successive executive orders that expanded sanctions to address Russian actions in the Donbas and Crimea (EO 13661, 13662, 13685). If Trump does nothing, US sanctions will automatically renew until March 6, 2018. Sanctions tied to Obama’s original executive order were set to expire on March 6, 2017. In his last week in office, Obama issued a letter extending these sanctions by one year.
