Biden: Gas Prices Are "Going to Go Up... Can't Do Much Right Now... Russia Is Responsible"

President Joe Biden said gas prices in America that are already at historical highs are going to continue to go up and that there’s not much that can be done about it at this time.

On Tuesday the president announced a ban on Russian energy imports as the latest move from the United States to isolate Russia’s economy in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Later in the day, as Biden landed in Texas, a reporter asked for his message to the American people on gas prices, which reached a record $4.173 on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

“They’re going to go up,” said Biden of the prices.

When asked what he can do about it, the president responded: “Can’t do much right now … Russia is responsible.”

Just so everyone is on the same page, here is the Russian invasion in the context of the average US gas prices.

Gas prices have been on the rise ever since dropping below $2.00 a gallon during the COVID lockdown measures in 2020. Those increases have accelerated since around the start of 2022 as Russian tensions with Ukraine escalated and Russia later invaded.

Biden has moved to release a total of 90 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this fiscal year, but that amounts to a drop in the bucket as the United States consumes an average of about 20 million barrels per day. The national average price of gas has increased by more than 71 cents over the past month, according to AAA.

“Americans are paying a higher price at the pump because of the actions of President Putin,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki Tuesday aboard Air Force One. “This is a Putin spike at the gas pump, not one prompted by our sanctions.”

Needless to say, that statement is misleading at best: despite explicitly provisioning for Russian energy exports across the first round of sanctions in late February, the relentless jawboning by western powers spooked potential buyers that an even harsher round of sanctions was coming and they decided to "self-sanction" and balk at buying Russian oil. Shell, which was the only major that publicly purchased Russian Urals Brent (at a massive $28.50 discount last week) after getting explicit government approval to do so, was publicly shamed and ostracized and today announced it would not purchase any more Russian oil. As a result, while Russian oil went bidless, the price of non-Russian oil went offerless