Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear Tuesday that the United States will not join Britain and 11 other Western countries in imposing new trade restrictions targeting Israeli areas in Yehuda and Shomron, distancing the Trump administration from the latest international pressure campaign against Israel, the Times of Israel reports.

“Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did,” Rubio told reporters in Miami. “We saw their announcement today, but I don’t have any comment on it right now.”

Rubio nevertheless stressed that the United States wants to avoid further instability in Yehuda and Shomron amid the broader turmoil across the Middle East, telling reporters that Washington does not want to see “anything destabilizing going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region.”

The remarks came hours after Britain announced sweeping measures targeting Israeli areas beyond the Green Line, including restrictions on trade with settlements. A group of 12 Western countries — Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom — also issued a joint declaration backing national and/or European restrictions on settlement trade, or stating that they are actively considering such measures.

Israel responded furiously to the British move. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel would close the British Consulate in Yerushalayim, remove British representatives from the U.S.-backed International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat, terminate a British team working with Palestinian Authority security forces in Ramallah, and bar a group of British officials and citizens from entering Israel.

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