Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said price caps on Russian energy should be tightened as part of sanctions for the war in Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said price caps on Russian energy should be tightened as part of sanctions for the war in Ukraine.
Economic sanctions on Russia “haven’t really bitten that hard” because countries such as China, India and Turkey haven’t joined in, Summers said in an interview on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” broadcast Sunday.
“So there are real limits to the damage we can do Russia economically,” he said. “We probably should try to stiffen up on the price caps on energy.”
Group of Seven nations and European Union countries agreed on Feb. 3 to impose price caps on a range of Russian petroleum products. A G-7 agreement on a $60 per barrel price cap for Russian crude kicked on Dec. 5.
Russian state assets should be seized and channeled to rebuilding Ukraine, helping countries giving a home to Ukrainian refugees and developing countries that face higher food and energy prices due to Russia’s war, Summers said.
He cited Russia’s seizing of German assets after World War II and the seizure of Iraqi assets to help rebuild Kuwait after the first Gulf war.
“I believe that if this sets a precedent, that countries that engage in naked cross-border aggression will lose their state assets, that’s a precedent that I think is a very healthy precedent to set,” said Summers, who’s also a paid Bloomberg contributor.
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