--- title: Donald Trump Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia description: President-elect Donald Trump suggested Friday that he would be open to ending U.S. sanctions against Russia canonical: https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-14T14:07:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:15.327Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Suggests He Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia og:description: "Why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?" og:url: https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdae61f86faae3044/6988b5a1fb4eac62b8890686/donald-trump-russia-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3284 og:image:height: 1847 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-PRESSER og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Suggests He Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia twitter:description: "Why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdae61f86faae3044/6988b5a1fb4eac62b8890686/donald-trump-russia-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Suggests He Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 14, 2017 2:07 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a press conference Jan. 11, 2017 at Trump Tower in New York. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a press conference Jan. 11, 2017 at Trump Tower in New York. Timothy Clary—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 14, 2017 2:07 PM UTC President-elect Donald Trump [suggested Friday](http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-sets-a-bar-for-russia-and-china-1484360380) that he would be open to ending U.S. sanctions against Russia. Trump said that “at least for a period of time,” he would maintain the sanctions on Russia imposed by President Barack Obama last month. But Trump also suggested that he would lift the sanctions if Russia works with the U.S. on key issues, including combating terrorism. Trump made the comments in an hourlong [interview with the Wall Street _Journal_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-sets-a-bar-for-russia-and-china-1484360380). “If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?” Trump told the _Journal_. The Obama administration imposed sanctions against Russia in December for hacking into U.S. political institutions and [interfering in the presidential election](http://time.com/4605845/donald-trump-russia-election-hack-poll/). Trump has been [critical of intelligence reports](http://time.com/4626515/donald-trump-intelligence-meeting-russia-hacks/) that accuse Russia of such interference. In the interview with the _Journal_, Trump also said that he is open to reconsidering the longstanding One China policy. When asked about it, he said, “everything is under negotiation, including One China.” Trump [angered China](http://time.com/4628279/china-taiwan-trump-cruz-tsai-ing-wen/) last month when he accepted a [call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen](http://time.com/4597532/donald-trump-taiwan-one-china/), marking the first time leaders of the U.S. and the self-governing island have had direct contact since formal diplomatic relations were severed in 1979. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Suggests He Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia","datePublished":"2017-01-14T14:07:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:15.327Z","description":"“If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?\"","url":"https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/","keywords":["Donald Trump","russia","2016 Election","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdae61f86faae3044/6988b5a1fb4eac62b8890686/donald-trump-russia-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdae61f86faae3044/6988b5a1fb4eac62b8890686/donald-trump-russia-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-PRESSER","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-PRESSER","creditText":"Timothy Clary—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4635356/donald-trump-russia-sanctions/","name":"Donald Trump Suggests He Would Consider Lifting Sanctions on Russia"}}]}] ```