Rubio says Trump to take up to 60 days to weigh Russia sanctions
· Yahoo NewsBy Nandita Bose and Gram Slattery
Oct 17 (Reuters) - The day after waiving sanctions and tariffs related to Russian exports, US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he has yet to announce a final decision on the matter, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said officials want more time to evaluate the situation.
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.
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"A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that his decision-making was aimed at avoiding anything "that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table."
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.
The measures, including tariffs on Russian goods and penalties on countries buying Russian oil and gas, were due to take effect next week. Friday's order did not specify how long the waiver would last, but Rubio said Trump opted for a 60-day review.
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"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 boarding a plane for a trip to Uzbekistan.
Friday's executive order drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who warned it would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and prolong the war.
DIESEL SUPPLIES
Rubio on Saturday 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.
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"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."
Under the agreement, 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.
The diesel agreement is "a carrot to try to end the war, not an economic lifeline" to Russia, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said during a Sunday interview on ABC's "This Week."
But "the only way they can get additional diesel to export is if they turn down the conflict with Ukraine," Wright told CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.
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"If Russia can bring additional diesel to the market and export it, it would benefit American consumers," he told CNN. "He's putting pressure that would both benefit American consumers and be a step forward for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war."
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.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Kentucky, Gram Slattery in Washington and Doyinsola Oladipo; Editing by Sergio Non and Christopher Cushing)