PhotoWASHINGTON — The White House said on Friday night that President Trump would sign legislation imposing sweeping sanctions against Russia and curtailing his own power to lift them by himself, bowing to the near-universal bipartisan will of Congress at the risk of escalating tension with Moscow. “President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a written statement released late in the evening. European leaders have expressed opposition to the measure because they argue that the United States and its allies should remain in concert on actions taken against Russia. Energy companies in the United States also objected to measures that they worried would put them at a competitive disadvantage. The legislation outlines sanctions against Iran and North Korea as well as Russia and limits the president’s ability to suspend them without Congress weighing in.

Source: New York Times July 29, 2017 01:41 UTC