'As soon as possible': Rubio signals end to waiver allowing India's Russian oil purchases

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]So, ultimately, it's something that benefited China and Russia's economy.

[00:00:03]>> Well, China doesn't I mean China refines oil. They import a lot, but they refine oil and they they >> But they also benefit from Russian oil.

[00:00:10]But my question for you is can you commit not to extend the general license again when it expires on June 17th?

[00:00:17]>> Well, that ultimately is a decision that's made by Treasury, but I will tell you it depends on the circumstances at the time. We would like to end it as soon as we possibly can because the underlying policy of this country has been to sanction their oil. These are time-limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply.

[00:00:33]>> I I understand that, but if we continue to extend them, they're not time-limited. Um I want to go to oil Russian oil sanctions and general licenses because President Trump gave Russia a lifeline allowing it to sell oil globally through licenses issued by the Treasury Department.

[00:00:52]Um while I think the administration should have known that the Iran war would make Russian oil more desirable, they decided to remove the stigma on that oil and give an extra windfall of cash to Putin. So, can you let us know whether you believe or whether you will support extending those licenses when that license when it comes back up mid-June?

[00:01:19]>> Yeah, a couple points. First of all, that those the the Two things have happened. The one is the actually the US US production and US playing a role in the global energy supply is increased. I think we had our largest amount of exports from the United States we've ever seen. So, we've also benefited from this and our energy dominance has really come into play. The Russian waivers were a decision. These are the the policy the underlying policy remains on the sanctions. What has changed is these time-limited extensions to sort of try to alleviate the global Right. The problem we're facing too is there's a contagion potential. And that is that at some point we can do strategic reserves.

[00:01:59]We can do some of the other things that we've done to sort of alleviate global supply. But at some point you have to ensure this is not so much for us. At the end of the day our economy is not in need of it, but there are other economies around the world that have benefited from this. So these are time limited extensions that ultimately at some point will expire.

[00:02:16]>> China and Russia's economy.

[00:02:18]>> Well, China doesn't I mean China refines oil. They import a lot, but they refine oil and they they >> they also benefit from Russian oil. But my question for you is can you commit not to extend the general license again when it expires on June 17th?

[00:02:32]>> Well, that ultimately is a decision that's made by Treasury, but I will tell you it depends on the circumstances at the time. We would like to end it as soon as we possibly can because the underlying policy of this country has been to sanction their oil. These were time limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply.

[00:02:47]>> I I understand that, but if we continue to extend them, they're not time limited.

[00:02:52]>> Thank you Secretary. I I'm going to ask one more question.

[00:02:56]Hopefully this will shorten as we go around. There'll be more questions obviously on that topic. But I know you just got back from China not long ago. Could you give us a quick update on the state of US-China relations?

[00:03:08]>> Yeah, look, I mean China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world, the two most powerful militaries in the world. The Chinese government and the US government have to speak.

[00:03:18]I mean there's really it's not a choice here.

[00:03:20]We we have to have some measure of communication if for nothing else in order to de-escalate potential points of conflict that could lead to something broader.

[00:03:28]There are obviously very significant irritants in our relationship with China.

[00:03:32]Some of these are long-term problems that we know we're going to have to address. And so what we're trying to do is manage a period of strategic stability while recognizing that there are areas of our relationship in which we are going to have struggles not just for years, but perhaps for decades. We recognize this. But I think as much as anything else we have to recognize that the United States and China have to be able to have points of dialogue and speak to one another.

[00:03:56]As I said for for no other reason than to be able to have a communication channel. I think in our meetings it was abundantly clear which are the areas that we do not have strong alignment or agreement on. We understand that there are areas in which long-term we're going to have some real challenges. Whether it's supply chains, put it to you this way, let's leave China aside for a moment. The United States and I would argue the world cannot depend on one country for 90% of anything. Especially 90% of things that are critical to our economies, to our not from our weapon systems to our pharmaceuticals. We just can't live in a world in which we rely on anybody for 90% of what we get in one sole source that could be cut off at any time as leverage against us or punishment or in a time of conflict. And so we are actively searching and have plans in place and that we're implementing these to diversify where we get critical minerals, where we get our supply chain, secure that supply chain.

[00:04:46]And obviously the Chinese would like to retain their monopoly position in some of these. This is going to be a long-term issue that we're going to have to continue to confront and work on.

[00:04:55]Work on that continues even even while we are engaged in the ability to dialogue and speak to them because we we have to. It's responsible and we truly have no choice but to be able to do that. It's to their benefit and ours and I would argue to the benefit of the world that that these two countries are able to speak to one another.