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Trump says the U.S. should not have been buying Russian oil, but imports increased 39% during his four years, after dropping 22% over Obama’s two terms.

WASHINGTON — As former President Donald Trump works to rehabilitate his image on Ukraine by hammering his successor on Russian oil imports, he is hamstrung by his own record on the issue: an increase of 39% of petroleum products from that country over his four years.

“We should not be buying Russian energy,” Trump said recently at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, part of an extended effort to rewrite his Vladimir Putin-friendly presidency into something more attuned to the current sentiment about the Russian dictator. “No president was ever as tough on Russia as I was.”

Trump, though, has not explained why Russian oil imports increased from 142.0 million barrels in 2017, his first year in office, to 197.7 million barrels in 2020 — an increase of 39%.

In contrast, Russian oil went from 205.5 million barrels in 2009, predecessor Barack Obama’s first year, to 161.3 million barrels in 2016, his eighth and final year in office — a decrease of 22%.

Trump’s staff did not respond to HuffPost queries about the matter.

In Trump’s Putin Rehab Tour, One Sticking Point: A Big Jump In Russian Oil On His Watch

 

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