With Trump Returning To Power, Europe Chief Weighs Idea Of Buying More Natural Gas From US Instead Of Russia

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that she proposed to President-elect Donald Trump the idea that the U.S. could supply more natural gas to Europe to decrease the bloc’s reliance on Russia, according to Barron’s.

The EU chief said the topic of tapping U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) could also be discussed in relation to the EU’s trade deficit with the U.S., Barron’s reported, citing AFP News. Von der Leyen also said it was “very important” that Brussels engaged around “common interests” with the president-elect.

The Biden-Harris administration has faced criticism for halting LNG exports after the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it was halting new and pending approvals for certain LNG export terminals in January. Some federal agencies are looking to interfere with Trump’s agenda to unfreeze approvals for LNG exports, according to various reports.

“Common interests are, for example — this is one topic that we touched upon, I would not say discuss — it’s the whole topic of LNG,” she told reporters in Budapest, Barron’s reported.

“We still get a lot of LNG from Russia and why not replace it [with] American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices,” said von der Leyen, Reuters reported.

Several world leaders have already congratulated Trump since the news of his reelection came out. EU officials from France and Germany admitted Wednesday that Europe will need to spend more money on its own defenses now that Trump is set to return to the Oval Office in January.

Some American companies are anticipating that Trump will introduce increased tariffs on imported goods when he returns to office. The president-elect enacted various tariffs during his previous administration, including on aluminum and steel in 2018, which drastically raised the price of incoming goods.

The president-elect said in September that he would impose a 200% tariff on John Deere’s tractors if it closed a U.S. factory and moved production outside of America. Trump promised to accelerate domestic production throughout his presidential campaign, including announcing in October that he would make interest on car loans fully tax-deductible to boost domestic auto manufacturing.

Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the Tuesday presidential election, sweeping key battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. The U.S. stock market soared Wednesday following the president-elect’s victory.