US President Donald Trump speaks throughout an announcement within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC on July 29, 2026.
Ken Cedeno | AFP | Getty Photographs
President Donald Trump desires Congress so as to add tariffs on Iran to a sanctions invoice in opposition to Russia and Tehran that has bipartisan help.
These duties would have little impact as a result of the U.S. imports practically nothing from Iran. However tacking them on to the invoice could torpedo its probabilities of changing into legislation.
Whereas sanctions in opposition to the 2 nations have widespread help in Congress, Trump’s well-established perception in tariffs as a one-size-fits-all instrument for financial coercion is polarizing.
The U.S. imported simply $1.4 million in items from Iran in 2025, in accordance with the Workplace of the U.S. Commerce Consultant. Artworks, collectors items and antiques had been the biggest class of these imports, making up 55% of the worth, in accordance with the agency Buying and selling Economics.
It is laborious to think about that determine growing a lot this yr — particularly since late February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a struggle in opposition to Iran that continues with no sign of ending. The U.S. has sanctioned Iran for a long time, and the Treasury Division has sought to additional squeeze Tehran’s financial system amid the struggle.
“The Administration’s risk to impose tariffs on imports from Iran is fully symbolic,” Jonathan Doh, professor of worldwide enterprise at Villanova College of Enterprise, mentioned in an e mail to CNBC. “U.S. imports from Iran are trivial.”
Trump sees it in a different way. Requested on the White Home on Wednesday concerning the pending sanctions invoice, he mentioned, “I might like them so as to add Iran as tariffs, not simply as sanctions.”
The measure is known as after former Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who died unexpectedly in mid-July.
“I might wish to see tariffs on Iran. It could make it a lot stronger,” Trump mentioned of the invoice, which might impose financial sanctions on Russia and people supporting its struggle in opposition to Ukraine.
The laws would additionally let Trump slap focused tariffs on items imported from the highest 5 nations that purchase Russian power and assist it evade sanctions.
Trump claimed Wednesday that modifying it by including tariffs on Iran is “what Lindsey wished.”
Graham’s workplace, which is now occupied by his sister, Darline Graham, didn’t reply to CNBC’s request for touch upon Trump’s comment.
Doh advised CNBC that U.S. sanctions on Iran — which already prohibit practically all commerce — are “way more impactful” than tariffs could be.
“Major sanctions goal U.S. individuals from buying and selling with Iran, whereas secondary sanctions goal non-U.S. corporations and people for doing enterprise with Iran,” Doh mentioned.
He famous that Iran was keen to incorporate sanctions reduction as a part of a now-defunct short-term ceasefire cope with the U.S. that was signed in June, then successfully scrapped weeks later as navy motion resumed.
The sanctions invoice took a key step ahead Tuesday, as a bipartisan group of senators mentioned they reached a deal to mix provisions on Russia and Iran right into a single legislative package deal. The chamber then voted 86-12 on a procedural measure to advance the invoice. The vote was notable in a Congress that has been riven by partisan divisions.
However that progress might hit a wall if Trump insists further tariffs on Iran be added to the invoice.
Democrats have denounced Trump’s heavy use of tariffs, which has ramped again up this month after being tamped down by the Supreme Courtroom earlier this yr. The Trump administration in current weeks has imposed or introduced new duties on items from dozens of nations, together with Canada, Brazil and the 27-member European Union.
The White Home and the Workplace of the U.S. Commerce Consultant didn’t reply to CNBC’s requests for touch upon Trump’s name for tariffs on Iran.
