Senior [European Union] officials are expected to sign off on the oil embargo in the coming days, raising the intensity of the bloc’s economic retaliation against Russia for the war in Ukraine. Leaders of EU member states said late Monday they had agreed in principle to ban Russian crude and refined fuels that arrive on ships, which accounts for at least two-thirds of imports from Russia. The EU also is set to agree on a ban on insuring ships that carry Russian oil, officials and diplomats familiar with the measure said, a move designed to strangle Russia’s access to international oil markets. (The Wall Street Journal) … “With the right policies, the U.S. can transition from recovery to stable, steady growth and bring down inflation without giving up all these historic gains. During this transition, growth will look different. We will likely see fewer record job-creation numbers, but this won’t be cause for concern. Rather, if average monthly job creation shifts in the next year from current levels of 500,000 to something closer to 150,000, it will be a sign that we are successfully moving into the next phase of recovery – as this kind of job growth is consistent with a low unemployment rate and a healthy economy. Things should also look different from the decades before the [coronavirus] pandemic, when too often we had low growth, low wage gains, and an economy that worked best for the wealthiest Americans.” (U.S. President Joe Biden in a Wall Street Journal op-ed)
