U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen apparently learned that she should have listened better to the Fed, when the latter warned against financial sanctions against Russia. At a press conference yesterday, Yellen warned of the boomerang effect of energy sanctions. “Europe clearly needs to reduce its dependence on Russia with respect to energy, but we need to be careful when we think about a complete European ban on, say, oil imports,” Yellen said.
“That would clearly raise global oil prices, it would have a damaging impact on Europe and on other parts of the world, and, counterintuitively, it could actually have very little negative impact on Russia, because although Russia might export less, the price it gets for its exports would go up,” she added.
Yellen also said that such actions lack “international consensus.” (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0736)
