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United States (US) Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said President Donald Trump will spend 60 days assessing the economic impact of Russia-related sanctions and tariffs on the US and global economies.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Trump wants more time to study the effects of the measures, which were due to take effect next week. He signed an executive order on Friday waiving key provisions of the Graham Act, a law he signed last month to increase pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine.
The law provides for tariffs on Russian goods and penalties on countries that continue buying Russian oil and gas. However, Friday’s order did not state how long the waiver would last.
Rubio later said Trump had chosen a 60-day review period to assess the possible consequences of enforcing the measures.
“I think the president wants to take the 60-day period of time to sort of analyze what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy,” Rubio told reporters before travelling to Uzbekistan.
Trump also said he had not made a final decision. Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, he said, “A lot of you don’t know what my decision is yet, but we’ll figure it out, and you’ll figure it out.”
The waiver comes weeks before the November midterm elections, as Trump faces pressure over high energy prices. The war with Iran has disrupted global oil supplies and pushed fuel costs higher.
The Graham Act also calls for tariffs on goods from countries that import Russian energy. This has raised questions about the impact on India, a key US partner that remains heavily dependent on Russian oil despite diversifying its energy sources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised Trump’s decision on Friday. He warned that easing pressure on Moscow could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and prolong the war in Ukraine.
Rubio also defended a separate agreement between the United States and Russia to increase diesel supplies to global markets. The deal aims to ease fuel prices that have risen following the war with Iran and disruptions to energy supplies.
Trump said Russia would initially supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the United States, with further shipments expected 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 agreement and the sanctions waiver reflected the challenge of managing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, both of which have disrupted global energy supplies.
“These conflicts around the world are starting to crash into each other,” he said.
