Trump adds Europe to the list of US trade partners he's threatening with
tariffs
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 [December 21, 2024]
By JOSH BOAK and RAF CASERT
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday
added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of
trade partners he's threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes
steps to import more U.S. goods.
“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,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise,
it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”
In 2023, the United States’ trade imbalance with the EU on goods was
$209 billion, according to the Census Bureau. There were $576 billion in
imports from Europe and $367 billion in exports from the United States.
Trump's transition team did not respond to questions seeking greater
clarity on the message, which for all its bluntness was unclear on next
steps.
When Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs in November,
the leaders of both countries spoke with him to try and resolve any
tensions. But the European Union lacks a single figure who can make the
purchase commitments of natural gas and oil on behalf of its 27 member
states that Trump is seeking.
EU Commission spokesman Olof Gill said in reaction to Trump's post that
"we are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further
strengthen an already strong relationship, including by discussing our
common interests in the energy sector.”
Gill noted that the EU is already “committed to phasing out energy
imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply. We’re not
going to go into any details about what that might entail in the future,
given that the new administration isn’t even in place yet.”
Scott Lincicome, a vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute,
said it was difficult to parse what Trump was trying to say relative to
European trade, given that natural gas exports to the continent are
already up after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"What we really need to chalk all of this up to is Trump laying the
groundwork for future negotiations,” Lincicome said. “This is for better
or worse a lot of what we’re going to see for the next four years.”
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President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at
Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP
Photo/Evan Vucci)
While there is a $209 billion trade imbalance, a more complicated
relationship lies beneath those numbers. A company such as German
automaker BMW can import parts needed to assemble vehicles at its
factory in South Carolina, such that the trade totals also reflect
the flow of goods within European companies that employ U.S.
workers.
More than half of the liquified natural gas imported by the EU and
the United Kingdom in 2023 came from the United States, according to
the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The volume of LNG going
to the EU and UK has tripled since 2021.
On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm issued a statement
based off a new study that unfettered exports of LNG could increase
prices domestically and increase carbon emissions. Trump ran for
president on the idea that increased oil and natural gas production
would reduce costs for U.S. voters who were left frustrated by a
2022 inflationary spike that still lingers.
Trump's demands on Europe to buy more oil and natural gas were not
especially new. He also made them during his initial term as
president and in 2018 reached a deal with Jean-Claude Juncker,
then-president of the European Commission, to sell more LNG to
Europe.
The problem with that agreement, as noted by the University of
Pennsylvania's Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, is that the U.S.
“cannot force companies to send products to a specific region or
country” and the EU cannot force its members to buy American fossil
fuels.
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Casert contributed to this report from Brussels.
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