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Von Der Leyen Wants to Discuss With Trump Purchases of US LNG to Replace Russian Supplies

9 hours ago

CC BY-SA 2.0 / kees torn / LNG tanker Gaselys

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that she wanted to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump an increase purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to replace Russian supplies.

"This is one topic that we touched upon yesterday [during a telephone call with Trump], it is the whole topic of LNG. We still get a lot of LNG from Russia, and why not replace it with American LNG," Von Der Leyen said in the wake of the informal meeting of heads of state and government in Budapest, when asked how to establish EU trade cooperation with Trump.

The EU Commission president added that LNG supplies from the US were cheaper and helped reduce energy prices in Europe.

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SI', SANNO BENISSIMO CHE TRUMP SMANTELLERA' ANCHE LA VACCINOCRAZIA EUROPEA. BUONANOTTE RICCIARDI & SPERANZA! NON USCIRETE PIU'.

Trump’s Return Terrifies a Europe Already Wracked by Self-Inflicted Crises

9 hours ago

© AP Photo / Andrew Harnik

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Ilya Tsukanov

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Donald Trump’s first term created arguably the worst rift in US-European relations since WWII, with analysts almost universally expecting Trump 2.0 to be equally harmful, if not worse, for transatlantic ties. Political analyst and EU foreign policy expert Massimiliano Bonne outlines three tectonic shifts facing Europe over the coming four years.

Political and economic analysts have come out of the woodwork to warn of tough times ahead for US-EU relations under Trump, with headlines in major politics and business-oriented media saying all that needs to be said about the panic gripping European capitals and proponents of the Western alliance.

“As Germany lurches from crisis to crisis, analysts fear ‘tariff man’ Trump could be 2025’s disaster” was Fortune’s take on Trump’s return. “Trump Will Test European Solidarity on NATO, Ukraine and Trade,” the New York Times predicted. “Why Donald Trump’s return is a disaster for Europe,” The Guardian bemoaned.

The common theme to these and other apocalyptic analyses on the subject relates to Trump’s proposed trade policy, with the president-elect making clear on the campaign trail that his threats of across-the-board tariffs of 10-20% on imports won’t include a special carveout for Europe.

“I’ll tell you what, the European Union sounds so nice, so lovely, right? All the nice European little countries that get together,” Trump said at a pre-election rally last week. “They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our farm products. They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States. No, no, no, they are going to have to pay a big price,” he added, touting his proposed tariff-for-tariff approach, dubbed the ‘Trump Reciprocal Trade Act’.

Europe’s economies, already reeling from a series of largely self-inflicted economic crises, triggered in large part by energy price shocks resulting from a short-sighted political decision to cut off energy ties with Russia, are in much worse shape today to resist Trump head-on than they were in 2017-2021, with EU bloc leader Germany in particular facing its worst deindustrialization slump in the Federal Republic’s history.

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Return of Strategic Autonomy, Moving Closer to China

“The return of the ‘tariff war’ is one of the pillars of Trump's economic policy,” EU foreign policy expert Massimiliano Bonne told Sputnik, commenting on the implications and prospects for Europe of the business mogul’s looming return to the White House.

In addition to riling up fierce economic competition with China, Bonne expects Trump’s approach to trade to have “direct consequences for Europe, both economically and strategically, so that the frictions in the US-EU-China trade ‘triangle’ will push Europe to accelerate integration processes, especially to defend its autonomy.”

“In particular, the EU will face pressure from Washington to align with US policies, which could limit European strategic autonomy. At the same time, China will see Europe as a potentially more open partner than the US, strengthening its economic and diplomatic influence on the continent,” the observer said.

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German Wildcard and Threats to the European Project

Highlighting the “critical phase of deindustrialization” facing Europe’s big two economies – Germany and France, Bonne believes the situation in Germany, including the political crisis facing Chancellor Scholz, makes it a wildcard, with falling output, the crisis of the automotive sector (a pillar of the German national economy), budget deficits and the growing burden of supporting the EU banking and fiscal union could prompt voters to “push a future government to reconsider Germany’s role within the EU.”

“This would allow for greater flexibility in setting trade policies to defend local industry, including key sectors such as vehicle and machinery manufacturing, and Germany might choose to consider a more fluid policy with China. The growing political instability in Germany could therefore significantly affect the future of the EU…with potential consequences for the balance and cohesion of the European project,” Bonne said.

Ultimately, “Trump's economic and industrial policy, with a focus on protectionism and welfare reduction, is shaping up to be a terrain of uncertainty not only for the US, but for the entire global economic system,” Bonne added.

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While the president-elect’s trade proposals are “aimed at reducing the US trade deficit and encouraging reshoring, i.e. the return of industrial production to the US,” Bonne isn’t convinced of the soundness of this approach, warning that “such a protectionist policy could turn out to be a boomerang for the US economy,” with “domestic industries, which depend on global supply chains,” threatened with “heavy losses as a result of higher production costs.”

Geopolitically, “the reintroduction of tariffs risks exacerbating tensions with China, affecting not only trade but also diplomatic sectors. Beijing could respond by further diversifying its economic partners and seeking greater cooperation with Europe. This American ‘closure’ would then push China to intensify trade ties with the EU, forcing European countries to reconsider their positioning on the global chessboard,” Bonne said.

“In conclusion, in this situation, Europe is faced with a dilemma: on the one hand, American pressure for an alignment on the trade and military front; on the other hand, the opportunity to diversify its economic partnerships by moving closer to China. Trump's protectionist push could thus accelerate Europe's evolution towards a more cohesive and autonomous political entity, especially in the military sphere,” the observer summed up.

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VATTENE A CASINA, IDIOTA: IL TUO POSTO E' LA GALERA A VITA.

 8 Nov, 2024 16:01

EU needs urgent economic overhaul – former ECB chief

The ex-head of the European Central Bank says a revamp is even more critical now that Donald Trump has been elected US president

FILE PHOTO: Mario Draghi. ©  Global Look Press / dpa / Philipp von Ditfurth

The European Union urgently needs a major economic revamp to restore the bloc’s competitiveness, former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has warned. The official, who previously also served as Italy’s prime minister, originally presented a gloomy report on the state of the EU’s economy back in September.

Speaking to Politico on Friday, Draghi argued that while “some of [his report’s] suggestions... were urgent even before because the European economy was stagnating, they are even more urgent today,” with Donald Trump having been elected US president.

According to the former bank chief, Brussels should first and foremost focus on preventing further “fragmentation of the single market and a fragmentation of the capital markets.” Draghi said that the current state of affairs is preventing European businesses from scaling up to compete internationally.

In the analysis published in early September, Draghi called on the EU to invest heavily in its economy – more than twice as much as it did after World War II.

“To digitalize and decarbonise the economy and increase our defense capacity, the investment share in Europe will have to rise by around 5 percentage points of GDP,” he wrote, acknowledging that the task was “unprecedented.”

READ MORE: US geopolitical control of EU is over – Polish PM

The Italian economist argued that with the geopolitical environment “in flux” and the prospect of less US protection down the road, the EU needs to quickly funnel large sums of money into defense.

Compounding the economic outlook for the bloc is the fact that it “has abruptly lost its most important supplier of energy, Russia” in the wake of the Ukraine conflict escalation back in February 2022.

“We have reached the point where, without action, we will have to either compromise our welfare, our environment, or our freedom,” Draghi wrote in his report.

The former ECB president suggested that the bloc should issue new debt in order to rise to the “existential challenge” it is currently facing.

While on the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly threatened to slap a universal 10% tariff on imported goods, claiming that “our allies have taken advantage of us.”

Back in 2018, during his first term in office, the Republican imposed 25% tariffs on imports of European steel and 10% on aluminum.

Meanwhile, late last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that productivity was declining across the EU.

JA, DIE DEUTSCHEN SIND SO KLUG, KLUGSCHEISSER

 8 Nov, 2024 13:03

Kremlin comments on German government collapse to RT

Berlin has hurt domestic businesses by depriving them of affordable Russian energy, Dmitry Peskov has said

FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walks to the gangway of his plane ahead of a flight to Budapest. ©  Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance via Getty Images

There is an indirect link between the collapse of the German ruling coalition and its decision to decouple the national economy from Russian energy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired Christian Lindner as finance minister this week, saying that a key point of contention was the latter’s refusal to provide more aid to Ukraine. Other cabinet members representing Lindner's Free Democratic Party resigned after their leader was ousted.

This de facto ended the three-way ruling coalition, which also included Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens. A minority government headed by the chancellor may remain in power if it survives a confidence vote, which Scholz asked the parliament to hold in January.

RT asked Peskov on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club in the city of Sochi whether Moscow saw a connection between the news of the coalition collapsing and Berlin’s rejection of Russian oil and gas. Such a link seems plausible but is not direct, he answered.

Leading German companies are losing their competitiveness, he believes. “They cannot compete in European and global markets, because they don’t have affordable, cheap energy sources anymore,” he said, speaking in English.

“No one is going to be satisfied with the government if they simply don’t have a possibility to compete because of political decisions,” he added. “In this sense possibly there is an influence. But it’s a result of political decisions of Berlin.” 

The Federal Republic of Germany has benefited from natural gas imported from what was then the USSR since the 1970s. Before hostilities between Russia and Ukraine escalated, Moscow and Berlin sought to launch the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which would have significantly increased supplies of Russian gas via the Baltic Sea.

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However, Berlin eventually declined to certify the new project. In September 2022, a series of blasts damaged both pipelines, leaving only one of the four strings intact. German investigators have yet to name a culprit in the sabotage, while Moscow has pointed out that the attack ended up being highly beneficial to the US.

Germany has largely replaced piped Russian gas with expensive American liquefied natural gas.

US will abandon Ukraine – Orban: THE END OF THE EU, THE END OF NATO. DOT.

8 Nov, 2024 12:16

US will abandon Ukraine – Orban

President-elect Donald Trump will withdraw from the conflict, and the EU cannot fund it alone, the Hungarian prime minister says

FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. ©  Janos Kummer / Getty Images

US President-elect Donald Trump will pull his country out of the Ukraine conflict, leaving EU leaders in an “uncomfortable and difficult position,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.

“The situation on the front line is obvious. It’s a military defeat. The Americans will get out of this war,” he told Kossuth Radio on Friday. “Europe alone cannot finance this war.”

Some EU leaders want to keep pouring money into a lost cause but the silence is growing among those with such an opinion, Orban said, while others are calling for a policy reassessment.

Meanwhile, the few nations that have been advocating de-escalation and talks, including Hungary itself, as well as Slovakia and the Vatican, have been vindicated, he added.

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Orban’s prediction of a change in US foreign policy follows Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election earlier this week. The Republican has previously claimed that he could end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours.

The Hungarian leader expects major changes for the entire world after Trump’s win, which he said was so big that “it can be seen not only from the Moon, but also from Mars.”

Politicians who have been pushing for a Ukrainian victory are now in a bind, but they always knew that such an outcome was possible, Orban said. Earlier this year, he conducted what he called a “peace mission,” meeting stakeholders in the conflict. He traveled to Kiev, Moscow, and Beijing, as well as to the US, where he discussed the issue with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Budapest subsequently sent a report to other EU member states, which recommended that they should prepare for a shift on Ukraine, so “there is no reason for any leader to say that they were surprised,” Orban said.

READ MORE: Zelensky will be forced to accept peace – Ukrainian media

“The biggest problem in Europe right now is that they don’t talk to those who need to be talked to,” he said. “This is a luxury one cannot afford in politics.”

Orban was maligned by some other EU leaders for his diplomatic engagements. They claimed that he was siding with Russia and abusing Hungary’s rotating presidency of the EU by allegedly giving the impression that he was acting on Brussels’ behalf. The prime minister clarified that he was representing only his own nation.