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Aug 18, 2025: New York/Washington DC (US), August 18: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that there are "implications" of sanctioning countries like China for continuing to buy oil from Russia.

His remarks made on Sunday come in the backdrop of the US imposing 50 per cent tariffs on India's exports to the US. It imposes penalty tariffs of 25% on New Delhi's trade with Moscow. "If you put secondary sanctions on a country - let's say you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China. China simply refines that oil. In an interview with Fox News, Rubio stated, "That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who is buying that oil would be paying more for it or, if it does not exist, would have to find an alternative source for it." When asked if there were plans to impose sanctions on Europe for purchasing Russian oil, the US Secretary responded with remarks.

Rubio stated that they had "some concern about what that could mean" from "a number of European countries" regarding a bill in the US Senate that called for a levy of a hundred percent tariff on Chinese and Indian oil purchases from Russia. Notably, US President Donald Trump had recently extended the tariff deadline for China, which was set to end on August 12, by another 90 days.

Interestingly, India and China are the two largest buyers of Russian oil. In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity following the August 15 meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin in Washington, D.C., the US President mentioned that he might "consider the question of the penalty tariffs for buying Russian oil in two or three weeks or something." When asked specifically about delaying tariffs on China, Trump said that "because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that now," adding that the meeting with Putin had gone "very well."

In the meantime, Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Sunday Morning Futures asked Rubio in his interview whether Europe continues to purchase 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. Europe continues to purchase natural gas as well. Now, there are countries trying to get - to wean themselves off of it, but there's more Europe can do with regards to their own sanctions,” Rubio said.

"If they're - they always talk about sanctions, and they also have a sanctions package coming out, but another sanctions package is supposed to be coming out soon." The US Secretary of State also said that the US don't want to get into a tit-for-tat with the Europeans on sanctions. "The President has kept them in the loop, and I think they can play a very constructive role here in helping us get to that point." In an interview with Fox News on Thursday ahead of his meeting with Putin, Trump had claimed that the tariffs imposed on India for purchasing oil from Russia have influenced Moscow's decision to seek a meeting with Washington, as the country was losing its "second largest customer".

Trump told Fox News, "I think everything has an impact," and claimed that when he told India that "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".

"I think everything has an impact. India was the second largest when I informed them that we would charge you because you are dealing with Russia on oil purchases. This effectively stopped them from purchasing oil from Russia. And getting pretty close to China, China is the largest. And as you know, there was something in the works for that. Then they called and asked to meet with Russia. I think it probably plays a role when you lose your second largest customer and probably will lose your first largest customer. I think he [Putin] respects our country now.