By 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 as 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.
"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.
The waiver comes just weeks before November's midterm elections, with Trump under pressure over high energy prices as war with Iran disrupts global oil supplies.
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.
"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.
Complicating matters is the Graham Act's call not only for sanctions on Russia but also for tariffs on goods from countries that import Russian energy supplies. Rubio pointed to India, an important US partner that has diversified its energy supplies but remains heavily dependent on Russian oil.
Friday's executive order drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who warned it would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and prolong the war.
Senator Darline Graham, a South Carolina Republican whose late brother Lindsey Graham championed the legislation that bears his name, said she disagreed with Trump's decision and planned to discuss it with him when he campaigns for her next week.
"Personally, I would choose to keep the pressure on Russia," she told reporters on Saturday. "Because I don't trust Putin and I don't trust Russia."
DIESEL SUPPLIES
Rubio 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.
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.
"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."
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 and Gram Slattery in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Christopher Cushing)
