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Commentary
The Wall Street Journal

Biden Scapegoats the Saudis for an Energy Crisis He Created

saudi oil opec biden crisis energy
Caption
A man walks past a damaged silo at the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24, 2020, after Houthi rebels launched a missile attack on the facility. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration plans to “re-evaluate” America’s eight-decade-old alliance with Saudi Arabia because of last week’s OPEC+ decision to cut oil production. But the White House posturing looks like a bid to distract from the effects at home of Washington’s failure to pursue a successful transition to clean energy.

Blaming Saudi Arabia, or OPEC+, or Vladimir Putin, for an energy crisis that results from a policy of switching from carbon fuels to “clean energy”—on the basis of what look like utopian assumptions—is disingenuous. Unlike countries such as Japan or China, America can produce far more oil than it consumes. The oil prices US consumers pay are due to choices their leaders made.