Energy secretary also says European climate rules threaten trade deal with Trump administration
European countries should stop buying Russian oil and gas if they want Washington to tighten sanctions on Moscow, according to Donald Trump’s energy chief, who said the trade was funding Vladimir Putin’s “war machine”.
Chris Wright, US energy secretary, told the Financial Times that European countries should instead buy American liquefied natural gas, gasoline and other fossil fuel products to meet the terms of the US-EU trade deal, which calls on the bloc’s countries to buy $750bn of US energy by the end of 2028.
“If the Europeans drew a line and said: ‘We’re not going to buy more Russian gas, we’re not going to buy Russian oil’. Would that have a positive influence on the US leaning in more aggressively [on sanctions] as well? Absolutely,” he said in an interview ahead of talks with his EU counterpart in Brussels this week.
“We think it’s good economically for Europe. You want to have secure energy suppliers that are your allies, not your foes . . . the other reason is a huge goal of the Trump administration, and I believe of the EU, is to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia funds its war machine off oil exports and natural gas exports and if you cut off European purchase of those, it shrinks their money.”
Brussels is pressing Washington to impose tougher economic sanctions on Russia to increase pressure on Putin as part of a diplomatic push to secure a peace deal in Ukraine. But despite becoming increasingly frustrated by Moscow’s refusal to agree a temporary cease fire, Trump has not imposed additional sanctions on Russia.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told ABC on Sunday that the US was “prepared to increase pressure on Russia” so long as Europe did the same.
Russian gas made up 14 per cent of the EU’s overall imports of the fossil fuel in 2024, according to the think-tank Ember, down from about two-fifths when Moscow started its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However, that marks an 18 per cent increase compared with 2023, mainly because of more shipments of Russian LNG.
Brussels is drawing up legal rules to phase out Russian oil and gas by 2028, although the plan faces opposition from Hungary and Slovakia, which continue to purchase cheaper pipeline gas from Russia.
Wright is scheduled to meet EU energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen on Thursday to discuss the bloc’s plans to wean itself off Russian energy and how it plans to buy $250bn a year of US energy products. He will also meet members of the European parliament, many of whom have called for changes to the EU-US trade deal, which they argue favours the US.
Wright, who has been criticised by green groups as Trump’s “fracker-in-chief” and a climate denier, said Brussels climate rules and its “crusade” to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 posed a major threat to the EU-US trade deal.
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Methane Regulation and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive would create “huge legal risks” for US companies selling fossil fuels into Europe unless they underwent “massive modifications”, he said.
“The whole trade talks would fall apart if Europe or the US don’t hold up their end of the deal . . . so I think those regulations significantly threaten the ability to implement the trade deal that was agreed to,” said Wright. “Net zero 2050 is just a colossal train wreck . . . Its just a monstrous human impoverishment programme and of course there is no way it is going to happen.”
In January, Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which includes a net zero goal.
Some big US companies oppose CSDDD, which is due to be phased in from 2027 and would require EU and non-EU companies with significant turnover in the bloc to ensure that their supply chains do not harm the environment or human rights. Last month, Exxon said the regulation threatened US companies with “bone crushing penalties” and asked the Trump administration to use the EU-US trade talks to fight it.
CBAM, the world’s first carbon border levy, is due to enter into force in January and would place a carbon cost on goods imported into the EU based on their embedded greenhouse gas emissions. The EU methane regulation, which entered into force last year, will phase in tough rules on LNG importers seeking to reduce emissions of the planet-warming gas.
The EU has started to simplify some of its climate legislation under pressure from heavy industry and rightwing politicians. But the effort has prompted a backlash from environmental campaigners who argue that if the EU falters on its decarbonisation efforts other countries will follow suit.
Brussels has also been pushing member states to accelerate renewable power installation in order to cut their reliance on imported fossil fuels. Renewable energy makes up about a quarter of the EU’s final energy consumption.
Wright said the EU’s “exaggerated activist view of climate change” and “heavy handed” bureaucracy had undermined its energy security, had caused deindustrialisation and soaring energy prices for citizens. This policy had caused a major divergence in wealth between Europe and US to open up over the past 15 years, which was “heartbreaking to see” and he would try to sell the Trump administration’s vision to Europe.
“I’m an anglophile. I love what Europe’s role in history and culture and everything, and then to see it just shrink its influence in the world, shrink its ability to be a strong ally for the United States, and reduce the opportunities for the citizens of the European countries.”
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