Peter Jeydel, leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Sanctions + Trade Controls Practice Group, was quoted in the July 16, 2025 TradeWinds article, “Trump’s 100% Tariffs Against Russia’s Trading Partners is Not the Real Seismic Shift.”

Trade lawyer Peter Jeydel, a Washington DC-based partner at Troutman Pepper Locke, said secondary tariffs were a “novel” tool. But after Trump’s executive order, it was never actually used against Venezuela’s trading partners.

“That’s remained a threat that’s not been acted on,” he told me. “It’s not a term that was used until this executive order came out.”

When Trump made his threat on Monday, a bipartisan group of senators was already working on legislation that would allow him to impose up to 500% tariffs on Russia’s trading partners.

Jeydel described the bill as “political signalling” because the president does not need any additional statutory authority to impose sanctions on Russia, and Trump has claimed that he does not need Congress’ approval to impose tariffs, though that is being litigated in the courts.

And 500%, he argued, is not a “credible threat” because of the huge impact it would cause if imposed.

“To me, the headline point is the US government and this administration, for the first time, appears to be seriously considering taking impactful action to target Russian trade and Russian interests if an adequate settlement isn’t reached,” Jeydel told me. “Exactly what form that will take, nobody knows.”

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