Faced with a Congressional super-majority which threatened to override a would-be veto, Donald Trump has signed the sanctions bill which has received universal global criticism, including from America’s allies in the European Union.
Trump signed the bill for the sake of what he called “national unity” while conceding the bill was “flawed”.
Trump stated,
“Today, I have signed into law H.R. 3364, the ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.’ While I favour tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilising behaviour by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed”.
Trump went on to say that the legislation “included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions” which “encroaches on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate”, something he blamed on the hasty manner in which the bill was cobbled together.
Trump continued,
“Yet despite its problems, I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity,” Trump said. “It represents the will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States. We hope there will be cooperation between our two countries on major global issues so that these sanctions will no longer be necessary”.
Donald Trump also made a point made recently in The Duran, that the legislation will if anything, bring Russia, Iran and North Korea closer together as mutual victims of the new sanctions.
Earlier, Rex Tillerson stated that both he and Donald Trump were unhappy about the bill but would try their utmost to work around it and pursue their version of improved relations with Moscow.
Russia has cut the presence of US diplomats and staff in Russia by 775 in retaliation for the still unresolved illegal seizure of Russian Embassy property in the United States under Barack Obama. The passage of the sanctions bill was said to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
When it comes to Russia-US relations, the back is officially broken, at least for the time being.
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