Labor Chief: More U.S. Firms Will Follow Microsoft Out of Russia

(Bloomberg) -- Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said he expects many more U.S. companies to follow Microsoft Corp. in cutting ties to Russia, with no sign of the war in Ukraine ending.

“We have to do whatever we can in as many places as we can to support he Ukrainian people,” Walsh told Jon Ferro on Bloomberg TV Friday. “I think that there will be a lot more companies in America,” and elsewhere in the world, that “will be taking steps like this against Russia,” he said.

The technology firm announced Friday it would suspend new products and service sales in Russia, as it condemned the country's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian attack intensified overnight as it was accused of striking a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that's the biggest atomic generator in Europe.

Businesses in the U.S. and many allied nations in Europe and Asia are cutting off commercial ties with Russia, as governments seek to isolate and punish the country for President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine. Some major economies, including China and India, have been more reluctant to apply financial penalties.

Walsh said that if sanctions are introduced on Russian oil exports, a move that some lawmakers have urged but that President Joe Biden has so far resisted, then there will be repercussions for American consumers.

“As oil supply gets cut back from Russia -- if that's what happens -- we're going to see increasing gas prices,” Walsh said. “I'm sure that there are conversations” under way between U.S. oil producers and the White House, Walsh said, though he added that he's not personally aware of any and hasn't taken part.