'Why no extra tariffs?' US Secretary Marco Rubio defends US sparing China, Europe over buying Russian oil; warns sanctions risk global price surge
cautioned on Monday about potential energy price increases if the United States enforces secondary sanctions on China for processing Russian oil.
The US secretary was asked, "is Europe still buying Russian oil?"
"Well, if you look at the oil that's going to China and being refined, a lot of that is then being sold back into Europe.
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Europe's also buying natural gas still. Now, there are countries trying to wean themselves off it, but there's more Europe can do with regard to their own sanctions," Rubio responded during an interview with Fox Business on Sunday.
Rubio sets the record straight on where Trump stands with Putin's demands
The statement comes amid objections over the US's selective approach- imposing a 25% additional tariff on India (taking total to 50%) for Russian oil purchases while taking no comparable measures against China.
Rubio was further asked about sanctions on Europe for continuing to purchase Russia oil. "Wouldn't that be a major lever to pull to put sanctions on Europe or or punish Europe for continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia? Is that something on the table?" asked Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures' anchor Maria Bartiromo.
In response Rubio added, "Well, I don't know about on Europe directly obviously, but certainly there are implications to secondary sanctions.
If you put secondary sanctions on a country – let's say you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China. Well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who's buying that oil would be paying more for it or, if it doesn't exist, would have to find an alternative source for it," Rubio said further during the interview.
"So we have heard, when you talk about the Senate bill that was being proposed where there was a hundred percent tariffs on China and India, we did hear from a number of European countries – not in press releases but we heard from them – some concern about what that could mean.
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But look, I don't want to get into a tit for tat with Europeans on this." he further added.
Currently, China leads Russian oil purchases at approximately 2 million barrels daily, with India and Turkey following.
The sanctions discussion has resurfaced following Trump's notable meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15. Despite the summit failing to achieve a Ukraine ceasefire agreement, Trump described the talks as productive, giving them a "10 out of 10."
Previously, the US president had suggested that India-targeted tariffs for Russian oil purchases influenced Moscow's decision to seek dialogue with Washington, citing Russia's loss of its "second largest customer".
In his Fox News interview on Thursday, Trump had said, "I think everything has an impact," adding that when he informed India "we're going to charge you, because you're dealing with Russia and oil purchases", it "essentially took them out of buying oil from Russia".
However, India recently confirmed its continuation of Russian oil purchases despite US presidential tariff threats, maintaining its focus on economic factors.
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