The European Union will resume its offer to the United States to increase purchases of American liquefied natural gas (LNG), hoping that President Donald Trump will show greater readiness for dialogue after the announced 90-day pause on new global tariffs, reports "Politico", citing three European officials.
The bloc is preparing concrete proposals aimed at satisfying Washington's demands and reducing tensions in transatlantic trade relations. Among the ideas is the pooling of liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand in large-scale pan-European orders that could meet the White House's requirements, but at more competitive prices.
"These proposals have been on the table for some time, but now we hope there is an opportunity to move forward," commented one of the sources of the publication.
After Trump announced a 20% tariff on imports from the EU at the beginning of the week and insisted that European countries increase their purchases of American energy by $ 350 billion, on Wednesday evening he surprisingly announced a 90-day moratorium on most tariffs, calling on US partners to negotiate.
The EU sees this as an opportunity to put the topic of increased supplies of liquefied natural gas from America back on the agenda - not only as a tool for improving relations with the US, but also as a key part of the strategy for finally breaking the energy dependence on Russia.
"In the future, we will buy more gas from the US", confirmed Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen, stressing that such supplies must be compatible with the bloc's climate goals.
However, challenges remain. LNG purchases are carried out by private companies, and some countries are already signaling that their importers have reached maximum capacity. Also, the EU's attempts to organize a common negotiation of gas supplies after the Russian invasion of Ukraine have not yielded the expected results due to weak interest from business.
Additional pressure comes from the fact that the EU requires member states to fill 90% of their gas storage facilities by November 1, and a possible race for supplies in the summer could push up prices. That's why some capitals are pushing for more flexibility in the rules to contain costs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Thursday that the EU would respond to any possible tariff reimposition, but stressed: "We want to give the negotiations a chance."