Joe Biden assured that both the United States and Canada, major grain producers, would increase their exports accordingly, with the United States planning to spend 11 billion dollars (regarding 10 billion euros) over the next five years. , to respond to threats to food security and malnutrition in the world. “The price of sanctions does not only weigh on Russia, but also on a considerable number of other countries, including European countries but also our country”, the US leader remarked once more during his speech on the subject.
The war, like the indirect consequences of Western sanctions, affects a large number of countries, because Russia and Ukraine are “the granaries of Europe“, as recalled by J. Biden, with respectively 75 million and 33 million tons produced each year. Combined, the two countries account for around 30% of global wheat exports.
Within the framework of the G7, the United States and Canada have discussed the way “to increase and distribute food resources more quickly”, said the American president, adding that discussions were underway “with the Europeans and all other countries to suspend all restrictions on their food exports”.
This concern regarding shortages is shared by Emmanuel Macron, who called on Moscow to be “responsible» by allowing sowing in Ukraine to take place, failing which it will be necessary to consider “inevitable famine” in the next 12 to 18 months, with cereal shortages in the Middle East and North Africa, such as in Egypt: this country is 80% dependent on Russian and Ukrainian cereals to feed its population.
Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the White House, had meanwhile clarified on March 21 that American concerns did not concern a shortage of food on US soil, but the impacts on countries already fragile on the plan. food, “in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia”.
Beyond this alert, the American president seemed to doubt the effectiveness of the measures adopted by Westerners. During the March 24 press conference, he admittedly claimed that NATO had no “never, ever been so united”, but, when a journalist asked him regarding the lack of deterrent effect of Western measures on Russia, the American president, on the defensive, let a certain annoyance show. “Sanctions never deter. You [les journalistes] don’t stop talking regarding it. Sanctions never deterrepeated J. Biden, even though the United States had just announced new financial measures targeting more than 300 Russian deputies and around fifty companies in the defense industry.
The objective, developed the tenant of the White House, consists in “hurt” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, not just in the short term, but “for the rest of the year. “That’s what will stop him”according to him.
As AFP notes, the American president experienced the limits of action by Westerners during his tour of Europe: “In terms of sanctions, for example, following the flurry of measures in the first weeks, the three summits did not, unsurprisingly, produce spectacular decisions”, notes the French press agency. The issue of an embargo on Russian hydrocarbons, in particular, is more than delicate for European countries that are very dependent on their supplies.
