Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a major clarification regarding US President Donald Trump’s move to lift economic sanctions on Russia, as the sanctions and tariffs could have major effects on the global economy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a major clarification regarding US President Donald’s move to lift economic sanctions on Russia.
President Trump issued an executive order on Friday to waive key Russia-related sanctions and tariffs – including duties on the country’s goods and penalties for buying its oil and gas.
The decision came just days before the sanctions were set to take effect, sparking bipartisan fury in Washington .
However, a day after waiving the sanctions, President Trump said he was yet to make a final decision.
"A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," President Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Rubio said on Saturday that the President will use up to 60 days to assess the economic impact of Russia-related sanctions and tariffs that he waived a day earlier.
"I think the President wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy," Rubio told reporters before boarding a plane for a trip to Uzbekistan.
The waiver comes just weeks before November's midterm elections, with President Trump under pressure over high energy prices as war with Iran disrupts global oil supplies.
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving key sanctions and tariffs under the law known as the Graham Act, which he signed last month at the urging of lawmakers who want to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Complicating matters is the Graham Act's call not only for sanctions on Russia but also for tariffs on goods from countries that import Russian energy supplies.
Rubio pointed to India, an important US partner that has diversified its energy supplies but remains heavily dependent on Russian oil.
Friday's executive order drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who warned it would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and prolong the war.
Rubio also defended a separate US agreement with Russia to increase diesel supplies to global markets, aimed at easing fuel prices that have climbed amid the war with Iran and disruptions to energy supplies.
Under the agreement, President Trump said Russia initially would supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the United States, followed by shipments in November and beyond.
"That diesel is going to be sold one way or the other," Rubio said.
"The only difference is how much of it the United States was going to get."
Rubio said the diesel deal and sanctions waiver reflected the challenge of managing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine that have disrupted global energy supplies.
"These conflicts around the world are starting to crash into each other," he said.
Last week, the US failed to warn Ukraine a wave of Russian missile and drone attacks and limited Kyiv’s ability to use its interceptor drones by imposing a speed limit through Starshield - the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink.
President Trump said the waiver was in the national interest of the United States.
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