Biden's 'Empty-Handed' Return Controversy, Sanders Says "Should Not Have Visited Saudi"

"Cannot Maintain Warm Relations with Dictatorship"
Saudi Arabia "No Discussion on Oil Production Increase"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, a leading left-wing politician in the United States, has strongly criticized President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia. With Saudi Arabia already drawing a line by stating that additional oil production is difficult, it is expected that the political burden on President Biden, who is facing criticism for returning 'empty-handed,' will increase further.

On the 17th (local time), Senator Sanders appeared on ABC's "This Week" program and strongly criticized President Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia. He said, "The leader of that country is linked to the murder of a Washington Post (WP) journalist, and this kind of government does not deserve a visit from the U.S. president," adding, "We should not maintain warm relations with a dictatorship."

He continued, "I understand that the main reason for this visit was the oil price issue, but to solve the oil price problem, we need to focus on the excessively high profits of oil companies." This reiterated his previously stated position that the profit tax on oil companies should be strengthened.

Controversy over President Biden's empty-handed return is already expanding both inside and outside the United States. Earlier on the 15th, after a meeting with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Saudi leaders, President Biden emphasized at a press conference that "Saudi Arabia will take measures within weeks to increase oil supply," but the Saudi side stated that increasing production is difficult.

The day before, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said at a press conference, "We did not discuss crude oil production issues during the summit with President Biden," adding, "OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers) will continue to assess the market and what is needed."

Earlier, Crown Prince bin Salman also drew a line at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting, stating, "Saudi Arabia has already announced plans to increase production to its maximum capacity of 13 million barrels per day, and additional production beyond this is impossible."

As the controversy grows, the White House is actively providing explanations. Amos Hochstein, White House Energy Security Advisor, appeared on CBS and said, "I am confident that Middle Eastern oil-producing countries will increase oil production. They have the capacity to increase production," emphasizing, "There will be several more measures in the coming weeks."

If no visible oil production increase plan is announced at the OPEC+ meeting scheduled for the 3rd of next month, there are concerns that President Biden and the U.S. Democratic Party will suffer a significant blow to their approval ratings ahead of the November midterm elections. Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow at the U.S. Middle East Institute, told major foreign media, "Everything depends on the follow-up actions Saudi Arabia will take. If this visit helps ease inflation, it will gain more support than the anger erupting on Twitter, but if not, there will be political consequences."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.