Trump's E.U. Trade Deal Comes With Impossible Energy Promises

New York Times

7 days ago

When the Trump administration reached a trade deal with the European Union this week, the tariffs got much of the attention. But the agreement also includes a remarkable provision that could more than triple the amount of oil and gas America sells to the European Union.
Under the trade deal, the 27-country bloc says it will buy $250 billion in energy resources from the United States every year through the end of President Trump's term. That's a huge jump from the $70 billion it now buys, mainly in the form of crude oil and liquefied natural gas.
Analysts say it would be almost impossible to meet that sales target. Nevertheless, the terms, even if realized only in part, could have far-reaching effects on Europe's economy and politics.
A significant change in fossil fuel use in Europe, one of the world's biggest economies, could affect how quickly the Earth's atmosphere continues to heat up, and thus, the fate of billions of people around the world. The burning of fossil fuels has raised global temperatures and aggravated heat waves, fires and floods, including in the United States and Europe.
Fossil fuels have shaped America's interests abroad for decades. But rarely has an American administration used fossil fuel exports so aggressively as a political and economic tool in the energy choices countries make.
'This will strengthen the United States' energy dominance, reduce European reliance on adversarial sources, and narrow our trade deficit with the E.U.,' the administration said in a fact sheet, referring to the European Union's stated objective to reduce, if not eliminate, its purchasing of fuel from Russia.
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