The president of the United States, Joe Biden, explained this Tuesday that he is working with his European partners on a plan to take 20 million tons of cereal blocked by the war with Russia by train from Ukraine and thus contain the global rise in food prices.

“I have a plan to lower the prices of gasoline and food,” claimed the president during a speech at the quadrennial convention of the AFL-CIO, the largest union association in the country, held in Philadelphia.

The Democratic leader said that the plan is to take thousands of tons of grain destined for export by train and that they cannot go through the Black Sea due to the Russian invasion.

As Ukraine has a different gauge than European countries, Biden revealed that “temporary silos” will be built on the border of Ukraine and Poland, where the grains that will be exported to the rest of Europe and the world will be stored.

“I am working closely with our European partners to bring the 20 million tons of grain blocked in Ukraine to the market and help reduce food prices,” the president summarized.

Ukraine is one of the five largest cereal exporters in the world and under normal circumstances it used to export 75% of its production. The blockade poses a risk to global food security, particularly in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Biden also accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of high gasoline prices, which in the United States have reached a record price of $5 per gallon.

In that sense, he claimed to have released the largest volume of oil reserves in history and, although he admitted that “it will take time”, he promised that fuel prices will be reduced.

During the union convention, Biden defined himself once again as “the most pro-union president” in the history of the United States, and reiterated his call for big companies to raise wages and pay taxes.

“Wall Street did not build this country. I’m not kidding when I say that without the unions there would be no middle class,” said the president.

He also boasted about the unemployment figures, which remained at 3.6% in May, and accused his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), of having been one of the only two presidents with whom the Unemployment rose during his tenure, along with Herbert Hoover (1929-2933).

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