Agriculture
U.S.-based Cargill and other large agribusinesses are still operating in Russia, arguing they are essential to the global food supply. The Biden administration isn’t trying to stop them.
President Joe Biden speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 3. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
By Meredith Lee
03/25/2022 09:24 AM EDT
Link Copied
A growing global food crisis is forcing the Biden administration to balance its crushing economic campaign against Russia with a gentler approach to major U.S. food and agribusiness companies still operating there — and contributing tax dollars to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for all foreign companies to pull out of Russia as punishment for Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, calling out some individual conglomerates by name, President Joe Biden has been extremely careful not to pressure any specific company to leave Russia or allow U.S. sanctions against Russia to affect food flowing in or out of the country. In a prominent example, neither the administration nor Democratic lawmakers have critiqued agriculture shipping giant Cargill Inc., the country’s largest privately held company, which is still operating what it says are “essential food and feed facilities” in Russia. The White House even hosted Cargill CEO David MacLennan earlier this week as part of a meeting with corporate leaders to discuss the conflict with Ukraine and its effect on already-strained global supply chains.