Joe Biden cautioned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will likely cause food shortages in some parts of the globe since both nations are significant merchants of wheat, in comments to press reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia; it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well,” Biden said. “Both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example — just to give you one example.”
Biden included that the heads of the G-7 nations chatted about potential food shortages and also approaches to reduce them, elevating the possibility that the U.S., as well as Canada, could enhance exports.
“We had a long discussion in the G-7 with both the United States, which has a significant — the third-largest producer of wheat in the world, as well as Canada, which is also a major, major producer. And we both talked about how we could increase and disseminate more rapidly food shortages,” Biden said.
“In addition, we talked about urging all European countries and everyone else to end trade restrictions on sending — limitations on sending food abroad. And so we are in the process of working out with our European friends what it would be, what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages. We also talked about a significant, major US investment among others in terms of providing for the need for humanitarian assistance, including food as we move forward.”
Pres. Biden warns that food shortages are “going to be real,” saying the U.S. is working with European partners to end trade limitations on sending food abroad to help alleviate supply issues caused by Russian sanctions. https://t.co/GPN1kQDMMj pic.twitter.com/0nuN0LMfve
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 24, 2022
Ukraine as well as Russia incorporated exports of over a quarter of the global supply of wheat and one-fifth of the globe’s corn supply, Bloomberg kept in mind earlier this month. A number of Mediterranean nations can take care of a major supply crunch. Over 80 percent of Lebanon’s wheat imports originate from Ukraine, while over 60 percent of Turkey’s wheat imports originate from Russia, according to U.N. Comtrade information explained by the Financial Times.
White Home press secretary Jen Psaki specified at an interview earlier today that the U.S. is itself not anticipating a food deficiency for Americans.
“While we’re not expecting a food shortage here at home, we do anticipate that higher energy, fertilizer, wheat, and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical . . . food supplies for countries around the world,” Psaki told press reporters.
H/T National Review
