Trump Threatens Tariffs If EU Doesn’t Buy More US Oil and Gas

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has warned the EU that it must commit to buying “large scale” amounts of U.S. oil and gas or face tariffs, in his first trade salvo against Brussels since his election victory.

The EU is desperate to avoid a trade war with Trump and has spent the past month racing to draw up potential ways to avoid tariffs by increasing purchases of U.S. goods such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or agricultural products.

“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!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

Trump’s threat follows overtures already made by Brussels suggesting member states could buy more U.S. LNG, which has been a lifeline for the bloc after Russia squeezed supplies of fossil fuels following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

EU officials have also begun work on potential trade reprisals should Trump move to impose tariffs, but capitals are keen to avoid a spiralling economic conflict with the White House given other areas of reliance on the U.S., such as defence.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in November that the EU would consider buying more gas from the U.S.

“We still get a lot of LNG from Russia and why not replace it by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices,” she told reporters.

One EU official observed: “It seems odd as a ‘threat’ given that von der Leyen alluded to the possibility of doing precisely this.”