It was sudden. It was unexpected. And it was definitely life altering. The Russia-Ukraine war, one of the things topping headlines currently. Both sides of the war had reasons for doing what it did, and his article is going to delve deeper into the effects the war has caused on our economy from over 6000 miles away. 

Oil and energy prices spike 

From the start, Russia was the largest oil and petroleum supplier for the United States, and when the war started, this came to an abrupt stop. Now, the United States does produce petroleum on its own, so it is enough to keep the residents supplied, but not necessarily for the same prices. 

Biden stated, “Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports.” He made this decision in hopes to slow Russia’s main source of economy, it being a punishment Biden felt was necessary as Russia had just invaded Ukraine, a place the US supports. Now that this trade has stopped, the amount of petroleum in the US isn’t the same amount it used to be, which is causing a dramatic increase in prices, all the way up to $6.00 a gallon.

Food prices increase 

Fertilizer is a huge product used by farmers to help support growth amongst their crops and food. Russia, in fact, was also a very high fertilizer supplier for the United States. Now, since the fertilizer supplies have decreased, as trading with Russia has abruptly come to a stop, the amount of healthy food produced from crops will also decrease. Similar to petroleum, having a low amount of an item can cause prices to rise. This can cause extreme inflation amongst agriculture that can be an extreme disadvantage for the residents of the US. 

Restricted Traveling 

Russia has closed its airspace to flights around the world. This means that no flights are allowed to take pit stops in Russia or fly over it for that matter. This decision made by the Russian government caused flights not only in the US but all over the world to become very limited and restricted. Flights that used to take 15 hours, going over Russia, now take up to 24, simply to go around the country. 

As a result of this decision, Biden recently commented that, “we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” with the same hopes he had for the petroleum case. 

Stock Market Instability

As a result of the above effects, there are many stock market crashes occurring. This is caused by unstable work settings and stability among companies. Work essence decreasing results in the stock market decreasing, which upsets a lot of residents all over the world. 

Lindsey Bell, an educated market strategist, states, “Managing risk is key to a good investing plan, but geopolitical risk is difficult to plan for,” She says that this instability is making it difficult to plan for the future as there are a lot of abrupt changes occurring. In this case, she claims that it is the perfect time to invest in stocks and wait for them to rise again.

So again, I want to say this war has affected the United States alone, very dramatically, and it will continue to, so residents must prepare themselves for major changes in the future.