The White House does not think record-high gas prices have plateaued, despite the cost per barrel dipping below $100.
“We still believe it will continue to go up, but we’re trying to take steps we can take to mitigate that and reduce it,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.
Psaki did not offer a prediction of how high the administration considers prices could climb, even as the market corrects from the nearly 14-year high of $130.50 a barrel on March 6. The $100 price cost represents a 25% drop in a week.
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“There are outside predictors, of course,” she said. “The president will continue to look at a range of steps that he can take, whether it is engaging through his team or through even himself personally with big global producers or it is looking at a range of domestic options.”
Psaki was also grilled on the reemerging alliance between China and Russia after reports Moscow asked Beijing for military help as the Kremlin’s advance on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv stalls. National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with China’s top diplomat for seven “intense” hours in Rome on Monday to convey there would be consequences for assisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We don’t like red lines around here,” Psaki said. “We are certainly watching the actions of China closely.”
Noting the White House never contended sanctions against Russia would be “fail-proof,” Psaki was similarly pressed on President Joe Biden’s plans to travel to Europe as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Russia Ukraine intensifies. Vice President Kamala Harris returned from Poland and Romania on the weekend after speaking at the Munich Security Conference last month.
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“There’s not been any final decision about a trip,” Psaki said.
