Germany’s financial system minister Robert Habeck warned Europe in opposition to turning into overly reliant on US vitality and urged the area to stay collectively in response to the brand new Donald Trump administration.
Europe ought to “meet the Trump administration with an outstretched hand, however not have our hand reduce off,” he mentioned Tuesday on the Handelsblatt vitality summit in Berlin, responding to the local weather and vitality directives Trump launched hours after taking workplace. The European Union ought to outline its personal pursuits, mentioned Habeck, who’s the Inexperienced Celebration’s lead candidate for Germany’s upcoming Feb. 23 elections.
Habeck known as it “a deadly sign to the world” that certainly one of Trump’s first official acts as president was to withdraw from the Paris Local weather Settlement, which goals to maintain a worldwide temperature rise this century under 2C above pre-industrial occasions. “That’s the starting of a historic failure,” he mentioned.
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Habeck additionally warned that Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on different nations will drive up inflation within the US and Europe and weaken the financial system.
“We shouldn’t consider that what is going on there generally is a mannequin for us,” mentioned Habeck, who can also be Germany’s vice chancellor. “That may destroy the foundations of what now we have created right here in Germany and Europe.”
Whereas international locations internationally are contemplating ramping up US imports to placate the brand new administration, a stronger reliance on the US might imply “a type of blackmail that we had in Russia is being repeated,” mentioned Habeck.
After Moscow’s assault on Ukraine, Europe misplaced most of its Russian gasoline provides by way of pipelines and needed to flip to dearer liquefied pure gasoline imports, principally from the US. Its financial system — and significantly that of Germany — has been gradual to recuperate from the shock.
“In a world by which now we have to count on vitality provide chains to be exploited for energy politics, vitality dependency is all the time an issue,” Habeck mentioned.
Nevertheless, Germany’s nationalized Uniper SE known as it constructive that Trump desires to promote extra pure gasoline on the world market. “We’re prepared to purchase extra pure gasoline,” chief govt officer Michael Lewis mentioned on the panel.
Essen-based RWE AG — which additionally goals to develop offshore wind tasks within the US — mentioned it stays “dedicated to assembly the rising demand by means of ongoing investments in further era capability,” CEO Markus Krebber mentioned in a LinkedIn Put up.
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