A sharp rise in the US cost of fuel is putting pressure on Joe Biden to respond, with domestic critics seizing on an issue with a global set of causes over which he has limited control.
The US president plans to discuss energy prices when he travels to the G20 summit in Italy this weekend, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, told reporters on Tuesday. He intends to address “the short-term imbalance in supply and demand in the global energy picture”, Sullivan said, “so that the economic recovery here in the United States and elsewhere around the world is reinforced rather than undermined”.
US energy prices are not at record highs, but they have climbed steeply since the pandemic lockdowns of last year. US crude oil prices this week crested over $85 a barrel, a seven-year high. Petrol prices now average $3.39 a gallon ($0.90 a litre), almost 60 per cent more than a year ago, according to AAA, a motoring group.