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US President-elect Trump has warned the EU that it must commit to buying “massive” US oil and natural gas or face tariffs.
“I told the EU they must pay for their huge deficit with the United States by buying our oil and gas at scale. Otherwise, it’s tariffs all the way!” Trump wrote on his “Truth Social” platform on Friday.
Trump’s threat follows an offer from Brussels to buy more U.S. liquefied natural gas, which has been a lifeline for the EU after Russia squeezed fossil fuel supplies following a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in November that the EU would consider buying more natural gas from the United States.
“We still get a lot of LNG from Russia, why not replace it with American LNG, which is cheaper for us and reduces our energy prices,” she told reporters.
“This seems odd as a ‘threat’ given that von der Leyen hinted at the possibility of doing so,” one EU official commented.
Trump has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs of up to 20% on all non-Chinese U.S. imports. Last month, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde urged European political leaders to work with him on tariffs and buy more American-made products.
During Trump’s first term as president, then-European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered to buy more U.S. natural gas to stem the threat of a trade war.
Analysts at Brussels-based think tank Brueghel said the EU should support any proposal to buy more US products and “could threaten retaliation if the US decides to impose tariffs on EU exports”.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 0.4% to $72.61 a barrel on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.4% to $69.14 a barrel.
