VIDEO - Biden warns of global food shortages from Ukraine war
President Biden on Thursday warned of global food shortages as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — predicting that the war would upend global wheat supplies.
Russia and Ukraine jointly supply about a fourth of the world’s wheat exports.
“With regard to food shortages, yes we did talk about food shortages. And it’s going to be real,” Biden said at a press conference in Belgium after attending meetings of NATO and G7 leaders.
“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,” Biden said.
“Both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example, just to give one example.”
Biden said that the US and Canada will seek to boost wheat production to offset the drop in supplies — as Russia already curtails wheat shipments to friendly former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
Ukraine and Russia supply much of Europe’s wheat. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
President Joe Biden claims global food shortages are “going to be real,” as Russia wages its invasion in Ukraine. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Joe Biden announced Canada and the US will boost their wheat production to stop shortages and price gouging. AP Photo/Vitaly Timkiv, File
“We had a long discussion in the G7 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.”
Food prices were already soaring in the US as a result of inflation hitting 7.9 percent in February, a month that featured only the first four days of the Russian invasion. Gas rises spiked after the invasion and the US blocked imports of Russian oil and natural gas, though European allies chose not to do so, limiting the effect on global energy prices.