Habeck Urges Europe to Limit Reliance on US Energy

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Habeck Urges Europe to Limit Reliance on US Energy

Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck warned Europe against becoming overly reliant on US energy and urged the region to stick together in response to the new Donald Trump administration. Europe should “meet the Trump administration with an outstretched hand, but not have our hand cut off,” he said Tuesday at the Handelsblatt energy summit in […]

Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck warned Europe against becoming overly reliant on US energy and urged the region to stick together in response to the new Donald Trump administration.

Europe should “meet the Trump administration with an outstretched hand, but not have our hand cut off,” he said Tuesday at the Handelsblatt energy summit in Berlin, responding to the climate and energy directives Trump launched hours after taking office. The European Union should define its own interests, said Habeck, who is the Green Party’s lead candidate for Germany’s upcoming Feb. 23 elections.

Habeck called it “a fatal signal to the world” that one of Trump’s first official acts as president was to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to keep a global temperature rise this century below 2C above pre-industrial times. “That is the beginning of a historic failure,” he said.

Habeck also warned that Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on other nations will drive up inflation in the US and Europe and weaken the economy.

“We shouldn’t believe that what is happening there can be a model for us,” said Habeck, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor. “That would destroy the foundations of what we have created here in Germany and Europe.”

While countries across the world are considering ramping up US imports to placate the new administration, a stronger reliance on the US could mean “a form of blackmail that we had in Russia is being repeated,” said Habeck.

After Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, Europe lost most of its Russian gas supplies via pipelines and had to turn to more expensive liquefied natural gas imports, mostly from the US. Its economy — and particularly that of Germany — has been slow to recover from the shock.

“In a world in which we have to expect energy supply chains to be exploited for power politics, energy dependency is always a problem,” Habeck said.

However, Germany’s nationalized Uniper SE called it positive that Trump wants to sell more natural gas on the world market. “We are ready to buy more natural gas,” chief executive officer Michael Lewis said on the panel.

Essen-based RWE AG — which also aims to develop offshore wind projects in the US — said it remains “committed to meeting the growing demand through ongoing investments in additional generation capacity,” CEO Markus Krebber said in a LinkedIn Post.

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