Trump threatens EU with tariffs if it does not buy US oil and gas

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with tariffs if its member countries no longer buy American oil and gas. "I told the European Union that it must make up for its huge deficit with the United States by buying our oil and gas on a large scale. Otherwise it's DUTIES all the way!!!," he said on social Truth.

The US is the world's largest producer of crude oil and the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. LNG buyers - including the EU and Vietnam - have already talked about buying more fuel from the US, in part to deter the threat of tariffs.

Trump has threatened tariffs against countries such as China and Canada, and is particularly focused on nations that have trade deficits with the US. Europe is already the main destination for US LNG, with more than half of all deliveries destined for the continent last year.

EU officials and member states have been preparing for a trade offensive since Trump's election victory last month. The bloc of 27 was largely caught off guard in 2017 when Trump, Bloomberg writes, citing national security concerns in his previous presidential term, imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminium. Since then, the EU has reinvented its trade doctrine and expanded its toolbox, giving it a range of options to counter coercive practices.

"We are well prepared for the possibility that things will change with the new US administration," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after a meeting of the Group of Seven in Italy at the end of November. "If the new US administration pursues an 'America first' policy in the areas of climate or trade, then our response will be 'united Europe'."