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

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Russian oil that China is buying is being refined by Beijing, and that refined oil is then sold into the global marketplace.

“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 said in an interview with Fox Business on Sunday (August 17, 2025).

He was responding to a question on whether Europe is still buying Russian oil.

To a follow-up question on whether sanctions are being contemplated against Europe for continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia, Mr. Rubio said: “Well, I don’t know about (sanctions) on Europe directly, obviously, but certainly there are implications to secondary sanctions.

“If you put secondary sanctions on a country – let’s say you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China – well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who’s buying that oil would be paying more for it or, if it doesn’t exist, would have to find an alternative source 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 said.

He added that he doesn’t want to get 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 said.