U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss Russian sanctions and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on inflation stateside.

Video Transcript

WALLY ADEYEMO: We haven't directly sanctioned energy. What we've actually done is, in each one of our sanctions, we've created exemptions so that energy can continue to flow. The president's direction to us has been, take every step we can to impact Russia's economy while limiting the impact on our own.

So in addition to the sanctions we've placed on Russia's financial system, we're also looking at sanctions we can place on Russia's military industrialized complex. Because of the export controls we've already put in place, Russia's top two manufacturers of tanks are no longer in business.

When you think about what's happened in Ukraine because of the resources we've provided to the Ukrainian people and the bravery of the Ukrainians on the battlefield, Russia today has far fewer tanks than they had going into this invasion. And they can't make more because the actions that we're taking with sanctions.

And our goal is going to be to continue to take actions that will degrade Russia's military industrialized complex in order to make sure that they can't not only fight the war in Ukraine, but also so they can't project power into the future. But ultimately, the thing we have to remember is the reason that energy prices are higher, the reason food prices are higher, are because Russia is taking actions like blocking the ports in Ukraine. So food can't get out.

So until Russia ends this invasion, we're going to have to deal with these high costs. And what the president has asked us to do is take every step we can to bring costs down for the American people while also ensuring that the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends.

[MUSIC PLAYING]