President Biden faced increasing pressure on Monday to ban imports of oil from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and the deepening turmoil in eastern Europe.

oil trade chart

The U.S. president is reportedly considering such a move but carefully weighing it against the likely impact it would have on global crude prices and, by extension, the cost of gasoline for American consumers. Even before the Ukraine war started nearly two weeks ago, energy prices were soaring amid constrained global supplies, driving the U.S. inflation rate to a 40-year high in January.

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Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer after the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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