WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump grudgingly signed into
law new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, a move Moscow said amounted to a
full-
scale trade war and an end to hopes for better ties with the Trump administration.
Congress overwhelmingly approved the legislation last week, passing a
measure that conflicts with the Republican president's desire to improve
relations with Moscow.
Trump signed the bill behind closed doors, without the fanfare that has
customarily accompanied his signing of executive orders. He criticized the
measure as infringing on his powers to shape foreign policy, and said he could
make "far better deals" with governments than Congress can.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the sanctions tantamount to
a "full-scale trade war," adding in a Facebook post that they showed
the Trump administration had demonstrated "utter powerlessness."
"The hope that our relations with the new American administration
would improve is finished," he wrote.
Trump's litany of concerns about the sanctions, which also affect Iran
and North Korea, raised the question of how vigorously Trump will implement
them regarding Russia.
"While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and
destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is
significantly flawed," Trump said in a message to lawmakers known as a
signing statement. He also issued a statement for the press about the bill.
The new law allows Congress, which passed the measure to punish Russia
over interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the annexation of
Ukraine's Crimea, to halt any effort by Trump to ease sanctions on Russia.
His hands were tied after the Republican-controlled Congress approved the
legislation by such a large margin last week that any presidential veto of the
bill would have been overridden.
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