London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Biden Price Hikes: U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen to meet with top finance ministers to address global food crisis

Biden Price Hikes: U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen to meet with top finance ministers to address global food crisis

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with global ministers to address a food crisis caused by sanctions against Russia.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will this week meet with ministers from the globe’s leading industrial nations to address a growing international food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Yellen and her deputy, Wally Adeyemo, are set for a packed agenda across seven days of high-level economic meetings that kicks off Monday in Washington with leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Group of Seven and Group of 20 largest economies.

The pair plans to use the IMF and World Bank spring meetings to discuss how the U.S. and its allies can work together to ensure that countries that rely on wheat and fertilizer exports from Russia and Ukraine don’t face widespread food shortages thanks to the European war.

“Secretary Yellen is deeply concerned about impacts that Russia’s reckless war are having on the global economy, including the risk rising food insecurity in emerging market and developing countries around the world, particularly as which are still struggling to recover from the pandemic,” a senior Treasury official told reporters Monday morning.

“The secretary believes the Russian invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated the need for the world’s largest economies to stand together to defend international order and protect peace and prosperity,” the official added.

IMF leader Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President David Malpass and Gilbert Houngbo, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, each plan to attend at least some portion of the weeklong flurry of meetings.

Yellen will also hold a closed-door meeting with the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal. The Treasury Department said the two plan to talk over the Biden administration’s support for Kyiv and efforts to hobble the Russian economy, but did not offer further details.

The economic summit comes a week after the United Nations warned in a memo that Russia’s assault on Ukraine sparked a “perfect storm” of disruptions to global food, energy and financial markets that “threatens to negatively affect the lives of billions of people around the world.”

The U.N. memo also noted that Russia and Ukraine produce about 30% of the Earth’s wheat and barley and provide the majority of the wheat bought by 36 countries. Many of those include some of the poorest nations on Earth, the report said.

Russia and its ally, Belarus, also export roughly 20% of the world’s fertilizers, threatening the globe’s agricultural production.

Thanks to the war and supply-chain pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, food prices are at the highest levels ever recorded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, up 34% from this time last year.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
'They're people from all walks of life across the UK'
EU Digital ID Claims Misstate What Brussels Can Legally Force on Member States
The Great Western Exit: Why Best Citizens Are Fleeing the Rich World [PODCAST]
The New Robber Barons of Intelligence: Are AI Bosses More Powerful Than Rockefeller?
The End of the Old Order [Podcast]
Britain’s Democracy Is Now a Costume
The AI Gold Rush Is Coming for America’s Last Open Spaces [Podcast]
The Pentagon’s AI Squeeze: Eight Tech Giants Get In, Anthropic Gets Shut Out [Podcast]
The War Map: Professor Jiang’s Dark Theory of Iran, Trump, China, Russia, Israel, and the Coming Global Shock [Podcast]
Labour Is No Longer a National Party [Podcast]
AI Isn’t Stealing Your Job. It’s Dismantling It Piece by Piece.
Lawyers vs Engineers: Why China Builds While America Litigates [Podcast]
Churchill’s Glass: The Drunk, the Doctor, and the Myth Britain Refuses to Sober Up From
Apple issues an unusual warning: this is how your iPhone can be hacked without you doing anything
Kennedy’s Quiet War on Antidepressants Sparks Alarm Across America’s Medical Establishment
The Met Gala Meets the Age of Billionaire Backlash
Russian Oligarch’s Superyacht Crosses Hormuz via Iran-Controlled Route
Gunfire Disrupts White House Correspondents’ Dinner as Trump Is Evacuated
A Leak, a King, and a Fracturing Alliance
Inside the Gates Foundation Turmoil: Layoffs, Scrutiny, and the Cost of Reputational Risk
UK Biobank Breach Exposes Health Data of 500,000, Listed for Sale on Chinese Platform
KPMG Cuts Around 10% of US Audit Partners After Failed Exit Push
French Police Probe Suspected Weather-Data Tampering After Unusual Polymarket Bets on Paris Temperatures
CATL Unveils Revolutionary EV Battery Tech: 1000 km Range and 7-Minute Charging Ahead of Beijing Auto Show
Crypto Scammers Capitalize on Maritime Chaos Near the Strait of Hormuz: A Rising Threat to Shipping Companies
Changi Airport: How Singapore Engineered the World’s Most Efficient Travel Experience
Power Dynamics: Apple’s Leadership Shakeup, Geopolitical Risks in the Strait of Hormuz, and Europe's Energy Strategy Amidst Global Challenges
Apple's Leadership Transition: Can New CEO John Ternus Navigate AI Challenges and Geopolitical Pressures?
Italy’s €100K Tax Gambit: Europe’s Soft Power Tax Haven
News Roundup
Microsoft lost 2.5 millions users (French government) to Linux
Privacy Problems in Microsoft Windows OS
News roundup
Péter András Magyar and the Strategic Reset of Hungary
Hungary After the Landslide — A Strategic Reset in Europe
Meghan Markle Plans Exclusive Women-Focused Retreat During Australia Visit
Starmer and Trump Hold Strategic Talks on Securing Strait of Hormuz Amid Rising Tensions
Unofficial Australia Visit by Prince Harry and Meghan Expected to Stir Tensions with Royal Circles
Pipeline Attack Cuts Significant Share of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Export Capacity
UK Stocks Rise on Ceasefire Momentum and Renewed Focus on Diplomacy
UK to Hold Further Strategic Talks on Strait of Hormuz Security
Starmer Voices Frustration as Global Tensions Drive Up UK Energy Costs
UK Students Voice Concern Over Proposal for Automatic Military Draft Registration
Rising Volatility Drives Uncertainty in UK Fuel and Petrol Prices
UK Moves to Deploy ‘Skyhammer’ Anti-Drone System to Strengthen Airspace Defense
New Analysis Explores UK Budget Mechanics in ‘Behind the Blue’ Feature
Man Arrested After Four Die in Channel Crossing Tragedy
UK Tightens Immigration Framework with New Sponsor Rules and Fee Increases
UK Foreign Secretary Highlights Impact of Intensified Strikes in Lebanon
UK Urges Inclusion of Lebanon in US-Iran Ceasefire Framework
×