WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will meet chief executives from a range of businesses on Monday to talk about how goods can be moved to shelves in light of COVID-19’s shadow and Omicron.

Biden has been struggling to deal with U.S. inflation, which recently hit an all-time high of 31 years. Biden took steps to remove supply chain blockages, including expanding trucker hours and unclogging ports.

The Democratic President has requested investigations into the excessive shipping charges and illegal conduct in oil and gas markets, which are keeping fuel prices high.

According to Axios, he planned to hold an in-person meeting with CEOs from Best Buy, Food Lion and Samsung (KS) North America.

According to the report, virtual participants are expected to include CEO Doug McMillon of Walmart (NYSE) and Karen Lynch from CVS Health (NYSE)

After their meeting, Biden will speak publicly on the topic. This follows Black Friday’s kickoff to the year-end holiday shopping season. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, bargain hunters braved the cold to purchase Christmas gifts. They found stores less crowded due to a shift in online shopping, fears about COVID, and lower prices.

Biden will be briefed by the White House COVID-19 Response Team earlier in the day about developments related to Omicron.

Monday’s warning by the World Health Organization was that there is a risk to international spread of this variant. It could lead to “severe consequences” for some regions.

The news of this variant was spread by southern Africa. Last week, the U.S. economy seemed to be accelerating after Americans filed fewer claims for unemployment benefits.

The world market regained some calm Monday after investors waited for further details about the Omicron Coronavirus variant’s impact on the economy.