President Trump has promised European energy buyers there will be enough supplies of liquefied natural gas even if it means higher gas prices at home.
Trump was responding to a question by TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne who asked what the U.S. president would do about U.S. exports of liquefied gas if their growth led to price inflation on the domestic natural gas market.
“I would make sure that you get it,” Trump said, as quoted by Reuters, going on to say, “I think the more that you do, the lower the price is going to go, and what I’d like to see is rapid approvals,” of new LNG export capacity.
The United States has become the largest LNG exporter in the world in a few short years and it also became the biggest supplier to the European after 2022 and the suspension of most Russian pipeline flows. Before 2022, U.S. LNG exports to the continent averaged 15 million tons per year, but they jumped to 55 million tons in both 2022 and 2023.
Ahead of the November elections, Trump urged the European Union to buy more U.S. LNG to mend a trade surplus with the United States. Otherwise, Trump threatened, it would be tariff time for the EU. Trump repeated his call for more LNG imports earlier this week as well, again urging the European Union to step up its purchases of American liquefied gas.
“The one thing they can do quickly is buy our oil and gas,” Trump told media on Monday. “We will straighten that out with tariffs, or they have to buy our oil and gas.”
The EU is indeed buying more U.S. LNG – because its gas storage is depleting fast amid strong seasonal demand. Driven by this demand, LNG traders have taken to diverting LNG cargos from their original destinations in Asia to Europe.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com