Critical Reasoning (CR) | The Government's valiant attempts to shield the U.S. market

The Government's valiant attempts to shield the U.S. market from global crude oil price hikes might have been prompted as much by pragmatism as by political considerations. After all, in an energy intensive economy like U.S., there is little leeway for demand for crude oil to adjust itself to price signals, without making a negative impact on the pace of economic growth, which seems to be on a robust growth trajectory right now.

Which of the following can be inferred from the above passage?

1)
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