“Trump's waiver of sweeping sanctions and tariffs on Russia is a 60‑day pause intended to analyse the impact on the global economy.” — Marco Rubio. Our verdict: Unverified.
Marco Rubio made the claim in comments reported by RTÉ on 18 October 2026.
Our verdict
Unverified
We could not confirm or refute this claim. It rests on a single news report quoting Marco Rubio, and we found no official documents or other independent sources to back it up.
Know something that settles it? Send us evidenceWhat we found
The claim comes from a report by RTÉ on 18 October 2026, which says Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Trump waived sweeping sanctions and tariffs on Russia for a 60-day period to analyse their impact on the global economy. RTÉ is a reputable outlet, and its report confirms that Rubio made this statement. But that is all it shows: it tells us what Rubio said, not whether the waiver was actually put in place or whether the stated reason reflects the real intention behind it.
We looked for supporting records — such as an executive order, a Treasury announcement, a congressional record, or statements from other officials — and found none. With only one source, and that source only reporting a quotation, there is not enough public evidence to confirm or refute the claim. We are therefore marking it unverifiable.
If you have documents or other evidence about this waiver, we would like to hear from you.
The evidence
- Background
RTÉ reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump waived sweeping sanctions and tariffs on Russia for a 60-day period to analyse their impact on the global economy. This confirms Rubio made the statement, but it is the only source we found and it does not independently verify the waiver itself. [1]
What we could not confirm
- Whether the waiver was legally enacted, and through what mechanism.
- Whether the 60-day period and the stated purpose of analysing global economic impact reflect the administration's actual intent.
- Whether any other officials or official records corroborate the claim.
How we checked
We searched for primary government records — such as executive orders, Treasury announcements and congressional records — and for independent corroborating reports or official statements. The only relevant source we found was the RTÉ report quoting Marco Rubio. We reviewed 1 relevant source.
Sources
- [1]www.rte.ie · Trump paused Russia sanctions to 'analyse' impact - Rubio · October 18, 2026
- [2]Photo: U.S. Department of State / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Help us check this claim
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. If you know of an official record, dataset, transcript or report that settles it, send us the link. We review every submission and update this fact check when the evidence changes the picture.
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