WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump said on Friday that the European Union, already the biggest buyer of US energy, should step up US oil and gas imports or face tariffs on the bloc’s exports that include goods such as cars and machinery.
The EU already buys the lion’s share of US oil and gas exports, according to US government data. No extra volumes are currently available unless the United States raises output or volumes are re-routed from Asia, another big consumer of US energy. “They must make up their tremendous deficit with the US by the large-scale purchase of our oil,” Trump said.