Rubio explained why the US does not punish China for refining Russian oil

Secondary sanctions against China for refining Russian oil could lead to higher energy prices on the global market, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

"If you impose secondary sanctions against the country, for example, in the case of Russian oil supplies to China, China will simply process this oil and it will be back on the world market. Anyone who buys this oil will pay more for it, or if there is no oil, they will have to look for alternative sources," Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on August 17.

According to him, when the Senate bill with 100 percent duties on China and India was discussed, a number of European countries said they were "not enthusiastic about such a prospect."

As EADaily reported, earlier, even before the Alaska summit, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose secondary sanctions on goods from countries that buy Russian oil, primarily India and China. Additional duties of 25% were announced against India, in particular.

On August 12, Trump postponed by his decree for 90 days the introduction of increased duties on imports from China.

"President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that prevents the imposition of high US duties on Chinese goods for the next 90 days," CNBC reported.

The decree on Chinese goods was signed a few hours before the moment when the pause on the increase in duties imposed by Trump was supposed to end.