by Jarrett Renshaw and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) – The Biden administration is ready to unilaterally decide, without the participation of their European allies, a ban on Russian oil imports into the United States after the invasion of Ukraine, it said. -we learned from two sources familiar with the matter.
President Joe Biden was due to meet by videoconference on Monday with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and his administration is trying to enlist their support for such a ban.
The White House is also talking to congressional leaders, where a bill banning Russian oil imports is likely to pass quickly, forcing the administration to move forward as quickly as possible, a source told Reuters .
A senior US official said for his part that no decision had yet been adopted but added that it was “probable that the United States will go there alone if it is done”.
Oil prices rose to their highest level since 2008 on Monday, the prospect of a postponement of Iran’s return to the world market adding to tensions linked to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Moscow.
Even if the purchases of Russian oil by the United States are less significant than those of Europe, a unilateral ban would not fail to fuel the rise in the price of the barrel, and therefore that of the gallon of gasoline at the pump on the American market, already at historic highs.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that discussions were underway about a possible ban on imports of Russian oil by the House.
For its part, a group of senators bringing together Republicans and Democrats presented a bill on Thursday on a ban, a text which benefits from the “fast track”, the accelerated review procedure.
The sanctions decided by the White House in the days following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army target, among other things, the export of technologies for the benefit of Russian refineries and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is in no way way not yet in service. But the Biden administration has yet to go so far as to directly target Russian oil and gas, because of the implications for world prices and the prices paid by American consumers.
Asked about the subject on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not rule out a unilateral measure, while specifying that it would not be adopted without coordination with Washington’s “allies and partners”.
In addition, the White House has not denied the possibility that Joe Biden is going to Saudi Arabia with the aim, among other things, of getting it to increase its oil production. The Axios news site reported that such a visit was possible.
“This is premature speculation and no travel is planned,” a White House official said.
(Report Jarrett Renshaw, French version Marc Angrand)
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