US President-elect Donald Trump said yesterday that the European Union, already the biggest buyer of US energy, should step up US oil and gas imports or face tariffs on the bloc’s exports that include goods such as cars and machinery.
The EU already buys the lion’s share of US oil and gas exports, according to US government data.
No extra volumes are currently available as the United States is exporting at capacity, but Trump has pledged to further grow the country’s oil and gas production.
“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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!,” he added.
The European Commission said it was ready to discuss with Trump how to strengthen what it described as an already strong relationship, including in the energy sector.
“The EU is committed to phasing out energy imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply,” a spokesperson said.
The United States already supplied 47 per cent of the European Union’s LNG imports and 17pc of its oil imports in the first quarter of 2024, according to data from EU statistics office Eurostat.
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