Six of Wall Street's biggest banks and four major U.S. port authorities received letters this past weekend demanding they preserve records tied to a controversial arrangement that could bring Russian diesel fuel into American ports. The letters, sent by top Democratic lawmakers, warn that any U.S. importation of Russian diesel raises significant legal questions and could prompt legal action and congressional investigations.
According to Axios, the letter went to J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, along with port authorities in Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi, Texas, as well as New York/New Jersey. The demand is straightforward: preserve contracts, shipping documents, vessel records, and communications with suppliers, intermediaries and U.S. government officials tied to any proposed or actual Russian diesel transaction. Lawmakers want confirmation by Wednesday that recipients are complying, along with details of any such deal.
The letter carries the signatures of Senators Chris Coons, Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, plus Representative Greg Meeks. It's a notably bipartisan-looking list given Tillis is a Republican, though he is retiring and Shaheen, the top Foreign Relations Democrat, is not seeking reelection either.
A Committee Chairmanship Waiting Game
The timing of the letter isn't incidental. Coons, Warren, Wyden and Whitehouse are all positioned to lead some of the Senate's most powerful committees — Foreign Relations, Banking, Finance and Judiciary, respectively — if Democrats manage to flip the chamber, per the same Axios report. Meeks, meanwhile, is in line to lead the House Foreign Affairs Committee should control there change hands. Lawmakers have signaled they plan to investigate President Trump's diesel agreement with Moscow if Democrats regain control of either or both chambers of Congress.
The letter also urged the banks and ports not to facilitate Russian diesel purchases, transport, importation, unloading, storage, financing or distribution within the United States — and separately pressed recipients not to help route Russian diesel to other markets under the sanctions waiver the Trump administration issued. Lawmakers argue the arrangement would help finance Russia's war against Ukraine and raise national security concerns, according to the letter.
How the Deal Came Together
Trump announced on October 9 that he had struck a deal with Vladimir Putin to purchase diesel from Russia, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Under the arrangement, Russia agreed to immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons after that. The Treasury Department issued a sanctions waiver to help enable the agreement, and has repeatedly claimed, per Axios, that it is legal — a claim at odds with a bipartisan 2022 law that bars imports of Russian oil, gas and petroleum products.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the agreement when CNBC sought comment earlier this month. That outlet also noted the Trump administration had previously issued narrower, 30-day waivers letting countries buy sanctioned Russian oil already in transit — a far more limited arrangement than the current diesel deal. The Biden administration had banned Russian imports outright in 2022. Separately, Trump used an executive order to suspend tariffs Congress had imposed; that action was distinct from the six-month diesel waiver, per Maritime Executive.
First Cargo Already at Sea
The first Russian diesel cargo bound for the United States departed on October 23, according to both the Kremlin and independent sources cited by Maritime Executive. The Malta-flagged tanker Agioi Fanendes loaded roughly 298,000 barrels, or about 40,000 metric tons, of diesel at the Russian port of Primorsk. The vessel briefly displayed New York as its destination on its AIS tracking signal before switching it to “for orders,” the outlet reported — and reports varied on when the cargo might actually arrive, with estimates ranging between November 7 and 10.
Axios reported that S&P Global and Reuters identified the tanker that briefly signaled a New York destination, while TankerTrackers said three tankers in total had signaled U.S. destinations as of that Friday. Ships' planned destinations frequently change for various reasons, and the article noted that exactly how much Russian diesel may ultimately reach U.S. shores remains unclear.
A Drop in the Tank, But Pricey Timing
Even if the shipment arrives as planned, analysts say its impact on the broader market will be modest. The initial cargo represents roughly 7% of the nearly four million barrels of diesel the U.S. consumes daily, according to Maritime Executive, while the roughly 300,000 tons scheduled to hit the market that month would cover about three-quarters of a single day's national consumption, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Still, the deal lands amid a sharp price spike: diesel averaged $6.18 a gallon as of October 12, up from $3.48 at the start of the year, per the Council on Foreign Relations, with some locations reporting prices of $7 or more.
A White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, pushed back on the Democrats' effort in a statement reported by Axios, saying Democrats have no agenda to improve Americans' lives and will continue investigating President Trump. Axios later updated its story to include that White House comment. For now, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has pointed to Russia-related General License 135, which authorizes transactions tied to the sale, delivery, offloading and importation of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin, according to the agency's own notice.
