“Today I am announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy. We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,” Biden said during a press conference at the White House. “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.
“This is a step we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin,” Biden said.
The United Kingdom announced its own restrictions on buying Russian oil imports just before Biden spoke, saying it will phase out the country’s imports by the end of the year. The European Union earlier Tuesday morning unveiled a plan to wean itself off of Russian fossil fuels.
“We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press release announcing the plan.
In 2021, the first year of the Biden regime disaster, the U.S. imported around 672,000 barrels of Russian crude daily, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, which comprised about 8 percent of the total U.S. imports of oil and refined products.
Most of U.S. crude imports, however, come from Canada, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia, so the U.S. is far less dependent on Russian oil and gas than our European allies.
However, during Donald Trump's presidency, the U.S. actually became energy independent under his policies of unleashing the American oil and gas sectors, making the U.S. an actual exporter of fossil fuels. Had Biden not come in and immediately reversed nearly all of Trump's existing energy policies including killing off the vitally needed Keystone XL pipeline, America would be in a much better position to backfill lost Russian oil and gas for our European allies.
But no. That would mean making America -- and Americans -- far more independent, and of course, Biden's left-wing Marxist regime hates liberty and independence. Better, then, to destroy our economy as well and make Americans far more dependent on government largess, which will give the tyrants far more power and control over our lives.
And it's working.
"The price on West Texas Intermediate crude futures, contracts for April oil deliveries, hit $129.44 a barrel. That level is just below a recent high of $130.50 a barrel hit on March 7, which at the time was the highest price on oil futures since 2008," CNBC reported following Biden's announcement.
"U.S. gas prices touched all-time highs on the heels of the news about the ban on Russian oil imports. The national average for a gallon of regular gas rose to a record $4.173 on Tuesday, according to AAA. The prior record was $4.114 from July 2008, not adjusted for inflation," the report continued.
Not all European 'allies' are in agreement with cutting Putin off, especially Germany, which gets the bulk of its energy from Putin and pays him billions per month despite being a member of a security alliance -- NATO -- that supposedly exists to keep Russia at bay.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that Berlin is not on board with banning imports of oil and gas from Russia. “Currently, there is no other way to secure Europe’s supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply, and industry,” Scholz said.
"It is, therefore, our conscious decision to continue doing business with Russian energy,” the German chancellor said on Monday.
Putin has exposed fissures in the global order and is attempting to exploit and widen them so he can topple it. Biden is helping.
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