Trump threatens EU with increased tariffs

President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to step up its purchases of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from the U.S. if it wants to avoid tariffs on all imports.

News ID: ۲۰۰۰۶۷۵

21 January 2025

EghtesadOnline: President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to step up its purchases of crude oil and liquefied natural gas from the U.S. if it wants to avoid tariffs on all imports, "Oilprice.com" reported.

“The one thing they can do quickly is buy our oil and gas,” Trump told media on Monday, as quoted by Bloomberg. “We will straighten that out with tariffs, or they have to buy our oil and gas.”

On his first day in office, the president lifted a so-called pause on new LNG export terminal construction that the Biden administration imposed on the industry following one study that claimed LNG exports had a higher carbon footprint than coal.

The United States has become the largest LNG exporter in the world in a few short years and it also became the biggest supplier to the European after 2022 and the suspension of most Russian pipeline flows. Before 2022, U.S. LNG exports to the continent averaged 15 million tons per year, but they jumped to 55 million tons in both 2022 and 2023.

Last year was more challenging because Europe started feeling the effect of higher-price energy, namely, problematic economic growth and reduced competitiveness for European industries.

Europe's job is made harder by long-term contracts. Europe generally prefers to buy its LNG from the spot market with EU officials arguing greater independence—despite the price premium on the spot market. Yet U.S. LNG exporters have committed significant volumes to buyers with long-term contracts and don’t really have a lot to spare for spot market loving European buyers, according to Bloomberg’s Stephen Stapczynski.

This means it would be difficult for Europe to respond to Trump’s calls for rebalancing the trade deficit that the U.S. is running with one of its top trade partners, even if it really wanted to, which it obviously does. / Mehr