Trump threatens trade tariffs unless Europe buys more US oil and gas

EU officials played down today Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, after the US president-elect warned of dire consequences unless the bloc ramps up its purchases of American oil and gas.

Trump posted today on his Truth Social social media platform: “I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”

Quizzed by reporters at a daily press briefing in Brussels, the European Commission’s trade spokesman Olof Gill responded to what he described as “frequent comments from the president-elect” on EU-US trade matters.

“[T]he EU has a substantial trade in goods surplus with the US, whereas the US has a substantial trade in services surplus vis-á-vis the EU, and that is not always reflected in some of the types of posts you’re referencing,” Gill said.

“So what we want to get across, and what we have said on numerous occasions, including from the top level President von der Leyen down, is that we are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector,” the spokesman added.

Europe has significantly ramped up imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US over the past three years as Brussels seeks to diversify sources of supply away from Russia amid president Vladimir Putin’s undeclared war on Ukraine.

According to official EU figures, the US was the single largest source of both petroleum and non-pipeline gas in the third quarter of this year, supplying just over 15% of oil and almost 38% of the bloc’s LNG imports.

In terms of total gas imports, LNG and pipeline combined, US exports covered a fifth of the EU demand last year, second only to the 30% that came from neighbouring Norway, which is linked by several pipelines.

EU officials declined to confirm whether Trump – as implied in his social media post – had delivered his ultimatum to Brussels via any official channels.

“I can only confirm that we have seen the tweets, the basis on which you have raised your questions,” the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker said, underlining once again “the importance of further strengthening an already strong relationship”.