Domestic Efforts Against Russia

In trying to dissuade Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, several countries and the E.U at large have started to consider and take serious action against Russia. While the E.U continues to propose bans and restrictions on Russia, the U.S was one of the first to take serious and influential action.

The largest and most dramatic economic sanction by the U.S is the complete ban on the importation of oil from Russia. Russia represents 10% of all oil production globally, and it is no small feat to ban not only oil but any oil based products from Russia. 

On top of this the U.S also made efforts to make trading with Russia much harder in general. Russian bonds are now unavailable for purchase, Russian reserves in the U.S are frozen, many of Russia’s largest banks are completely banned from U.S transactions or even using the USD at large, and there’s been a major reduction of war-adjacent exports to Russia.

This is all really major when considering that half of all international trade is done using American currency. 90% of currency trades directly involve the USD and losing the ability to trade and utilize the USD is a big blow to Russia. All the efforts against Russia by the U.S and the West alike are projected to contract the Russian economy by 15%.

This is a major blow to Russia, no doubt, but doesn’t come without domestic consequences. The U.S has seen all-time highs in gas prices, this isn’t due to Russia alone but is a very large contributor. On top of this car insurance is similarly rising in rates. The market at large is also becoming unstable as the stock market takes major dips and the price of safe currency like gold rises. 

The U.S is generally not in a great place from a market point of view. Insurance rates across the board have gone up, investment is going down, inflation is going up, but it’s dishonest to blame this purely on the sanctions on Russia. As the U.S continues to struggle it may feel unnecessary to sanction Russia, but it’s strong and aggressive sanctions that create the possibility for a peaceful end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Only time will tell if the U.S and West’s action at large are enough.

Source: USGoldBureau.com

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