WASHINGTON – The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, called this Thursday to ban the import of oil from Russia in retaliation for the war in Ukraine.
Pelosi is the highest-ranking politician who is in favor of this measure that the US president, Joe Biden, of his own party, has resisted adopting due to the consequences it would have for the global economy, especially for Europe.
“I am totally in favor. Let them ban it. Prohibit all oil from Russia”, said Pelosi when asked about the issue during a press conference.
The Biden administration has made it clear that prohibiting energy imports from Russia could lead to an increase in inflation in the United States, where it is already reaching a level not seen for decades, and could have a very negative impact on the economy of the European Union (EU) due to its dependence on Russia.
Specifically, the community club imports the 41 % of its natural gas and 27 % of its oil from Russia, according to Eurostat.
Meanwhile, the US has capacity to produce its own gas and oil thanks to hydraulic fracturing and other forms of extraction, although it continues to import energy from other countries because its domestic consumption is much greater than internal production.
The US, however, depends much less on Russia and only imports 7.9% of its e oil from that country, according to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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