The Limits of Fist Bump Diplomacy

“The move by OPEC on Wednesday to reduce oil production sharply undercuts President Biden’s effort to avoid an increase in gas prices ahead of the midterm elections, while setting back his push to constrain the oil revenue Russia is using to pay for its war in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

“It also exposes the failure of his fist-bump diplomacy over the summer with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.”

Playbook: “The news was met with outrage in Washington, as a growing chorus of Democratic lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol seethed about what they described as an increasingly one-way U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia.”

Wall Street Journal: “As diplomatic humiliations go, it’s hard to top Wednesday’s decision by Saudi Arabia and its OPEC+ allies to cut oil production by two million barrels a day despite U.S. entreaties and a looming global recession.”