US President Donald Trump’s request for more gas imports from the US puts the EU in a difficult situation. Trump wants the EU to import oil and gas worth 350 billion dollars from the US. However, this is unrealistic, as shown by figures from the commodity information service Argus Media. EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told the “Handelsblatt” (Tuesday edition): “Basically, there is potential for more American gas.” However, he added: “How much it will be and when it will be available cannot yet be said.” The figures from Argus show that the EU imported energy worth around 60 billion euros from the US last year. At current rates, this amounts to approximately 68 billion US dollars. This is a fifth of the value of energy imports that the US President now demands. Increasing imports from the US would be beneficial for the EU in becoming less dependent on Russian gas. However, the EU does not want to be politically or economically manipulated. The EU is currently intensively examining which partners in the future could replace Russian fossil energy carriers and under what conditions cooperation would be meaningful, said a high-ranking EU official to the “Handelsblatt”.
EU Struggles to Meet $350 Billion Target
