China refines Russian oil and sells to international market, Europe can do extra on sanctions: Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the Russian oil that China is shopping for is being refined by Beijing, and that refined oil is then bought into the worldwide market.

“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’s also buying natural gas still. Now, countries are trying to wean themselves off it, but there’s more Europe can do with regard to their own sanctions,” Rubio stated in an interview with Fox Business on Sunday (August 17, 2025).

He was responding to a query on whether or not Europe remains to be shopping for Russian oil.

To a follow-up query on whether or not sanctions are being contemplated towards Europe for persevering with to purchase oil and fuel from Russia, Mr. Rubio stated: “Well, I do not find out about (sanctions) on Europe straight, clearly, however definitely there are implications to secondary sanctions.

“If you place secondary sanctions on a rustic – let’s say you had been to go after the oil gross sales of Russian oil to China – nicely, China simply refines that oil. That oil is then bought into the worldwide market, and anybody who’s shopping for that oil can be paying extra for it or, if it doesn’t exist, must discover an alternate supply for it.

“So, we have heard, when you talk about the Senate bill that was being proposed – where there was a 100% tariff on China and India – we did hear from a number of European countries – not in press releases, but we heard from them – some concern about what that could mean,” he stated.

He added that he doesn’t need to get right into a tit-for-tat with the Europeans on this matter.

“I think they can play a very constructive role here in helping us get to that point,” he stated.