Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed President Joe Biden’s move to tap into the country’s oil reserves to bring gas prices down.
“Those reserves are meant to be used for serious emergencies, like war, and nothing else,” Trump said in a statement shared on Twitter by his spokesperson Liz Harrington.
“Now I understand that Joe Biden will be announcing an ‘attack’ on the newly brimming Strategic Oil Reserves so that he could get the close to record-setting high oil prices artificially lowered… Is this any way to run a Country?” he added.
Trump’s comments came after the Biden administration announced that it would sell 50 million barrels from the reserve to mitigate the increasing gas prices and inflation, saying it “reflects the President’s commitment to do everything in his power to bring down costs for the American people and continue our strong economic recovery.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki fired back at Trump’s comments saying the move was needed as the US economy emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re emerging from a once in a century pandemic and the supply of oil has not kept up with demand as the global economy has emerged from the pandemic,” she told reporters during a Tuesday press briefing. “I would note this is not technically an emergency release, but tailored to market circumstances. The DoE has broad authority to do exchanges.”
Of the 50 million, 18 million of them were already expected to be released as part of a sale Congress had authorized. The other 32 million barrels will eventually be returned once fuel prices come down, administration officials said.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
"..We were energy independent one year ago, now we are at the mercy of OPEC, gasoline is selling for $7 in parts of California, going up all over the Country, and they are taking oil from our Strategic Reserves. Is this any way to run a Country?" pic.twitter.com/BMOtr9XZug
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) November 23, 2021
