Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, 23 January 2025. Photo: Yuri Gripas – Pool via CNP / MEGA / The Mega Agency
The European Union should commit to buying $350 billion worth of US energy to avoid new tariffs, Donald Trump said on Monday. This demand came after the US president rejected Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to mutually cancel duties on cars and industrial goods. This was reported by Politico.
Trump said that the US trade deficit with the EU is $350 billion and needs to be eliminated quickly: “They have to buy energy. We can eliminate this deficit in a week.”
Earlier, the US had already imposed a 20% duty on imports from the EU, causing European stock exchanges to lose trillions of dollars.
At the same time, Trump hinted that he was ready for a deal if the EU not only reduced duties but also market access standards, which the president called “non-monetary barriers”.
A proposal to buy more US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been in the air since Trump’s re-election, but the US has not provided details of what such an arrangement would look like.
Europe is facing a dilemma: either buy American energy for billions or risk a trade war with Washington.
