In an interview with Fox News, Rubio said, “If you impose secondary sanctions on a country, as in the case of Russian oil shipments to China, China will simply refine that oil and it will return to the global market. Anyone buying this oil will pay a higher price, or if it is unavailable, they will have to look for alternative sources.”
He noted that European countries have already expressed concern about such scenarios, explaining: “When we discussed the Senate bill proposing a 100 percent tariff on China and India, we heard from several European countries that they were unhappy with that possibility.”
Regarding sanctions on Russia, the U.S. Secretary of State clarified that his country does not want to impose additional sanctions, as this would effectively signal the end of peace negotiations in Ukraine.
He added: “I want everyone to understand: if the President wakes up tomorrow, or even this morning, and says, ‘I will impose these severe, harsh sanctions on Russia,’ it might please some people for a few hours, but in essence, it means that negotiations [to resolve the Ukrainian crisis] are over for the foreseeable future.”
