President Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas — the latest move to try to punish Moscow for invading Ukraine.
“The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” Biden said. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”
Biden described the move as a critical step to punishing Russian President Vladimir Putin but said as a result, Americans should be prepared to face further price hikes at the pump.
Already, the cost to fuel up has spiked since the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading to historic gas prices across the country.
“Defending freedom is going to cost. It’s going to cost us as well in the United States,” Biden said.
Biden pledged to do “everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home” and said that lifting environmental regulations would not boost domestic energy production.
Instead, he said that oil and gas companies have leased millions of acres of U.S. land and received permits to drill, but have decided not to use them for production.
“They can be drilling right now, yesterday, last week, last year,” he said.
Until now, Washington had worked in lockstep with European allies to carve out exceptions to its banking sanctions for energy transactions, recognizing the potential for disruptions to hike prices for consumers.
Biden said he had made the decision after communication with the United States’ allies, particularly those in Europe, and he realized many of Russia’s buyers did not have the energy resources to cut off oil from Moscow.
“We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden said. “We can take this step when others cannot.”
The White House had initially resisted the move, saying it was trying to avoid actions that would reduce global energy supplies or push up prices for Western consumers even more. “We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week.
