Yellen: Price Cap "To Put Downward Pressure On Global Energy Prices"

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has released a statement following the G7 decision to consider a US-led price cap on Russia oil.

• Yellen says: "G7 leaders’ pursuit of a limit on the price of Russian oil represents a significant step in advancing our twin goals of sharply reducing Russian revenue and stabilizing global energy prices."
• Yellen says the price cap has two primary ambitions: "To strengthen the existing sanctions imposed by the G7," and to "make sure that Putin will not be able to profit from the higher global energy costs."
• The statement concludes by claiming that "it is the top economic priority of the Biden Administration to lower energy prices..." which are, according to Yellen, "a primary driver of today’s inflation."
• Yellen says that "limiting the cost of Russian oil will put downward pressure on global energy prices in a way that dampens the impact of Putin’s war on the US economy."
• Wires have already carried criticism of a lack of clarity in a potential agreement, but if the US treasury can push through a price cap it would represent a significant victory for the Biden administration. When Yellen proposed the price cap in a joint press conference with her Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland last week, it received a muted response from European allies.
• Freeland said following that presser that Canada supported a price cap but said it would be a "more challenging situation for Europeans."