Europe wakes up to US profiteering from Russia-Ukraine conflict
It appears Europe has finally woken up to Sleepy Joe’s foreign policy and US profiteering from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The war in Ukraine has been blamed for higher fuel costs, the rise in inflation, austerity, and an economic meltdown throughout the world. Yet everything in the US garden appears to be rosy, profits are blooming and life goes on as normal without a struggle – unlike life in Europe.
But public opinion is fast shifting regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the people of Europe are waking up to how the US is benefiting from the struggle in the former Soviet Union state while the rest of the world is in a state of flux.
Would Russia really blow up their own gas pipelines or was it sabotaged by an enemy that would profit from it? Ridiculous, right?
Right-thinking citizens already know this but it is refreshing that Europe’s politicians are finally switching on to the problem.
European officials are furious with US President Joe Biden’s administration, accusing them of making a fortune from the Russia-Ukraine war while European Union countries suffer.
One senior official told the American, German-owned newspaper, Politico, that the “US is profiting from the war because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons.”
Those comments have been repeated throughout Europe as they accuse the US of trying to wreck the European economy and its industry.
The senior EU official above argued that the double hit of trade disruption from US subsidies and high energy prices risks is turning public opinion against the war effort and the transatlantic alliance.
“America needs to realize that public opinion is shifting in many EU countries.”
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell called on Washington to respond to European concerns.
“Americans, our friends, take decisions which have an economic impact on us.”
The US rejected Europe’s complaints, trotting out the well-worn line that it is all Russia’s fault.
A spokesperson for Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) said…
“The rise in gas prices in Europe is caused by (Vladimir) Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s energy war against Europe, period.
“Exports of liquefied natural gas from the US to Europe increased dramatically and enabled Europe to diversify away from Russia.”
That is true, and the US took advantage of that by increasing prices and profiteering from it, tipping European economies into recession, sending inflation sky-high and with it, a squeeze on energy supplies that are threatening blackouts and rationing this winter.
The price Europeans pay for gas is almost four times as high as the same fuel costs in the US.
French President Emmanuel Macron said high US gas prices were not “friendly” and Germany’s economy minister called on Washington to show more “solidarity” and help reduce energy costs.
When EU leaders tackled Biden over high US gas prices at the G20 meeting in Bali last week, the US president feigned ignorance, saying he was unaware of the issue.
Several EU officials and diplomats agreed that US ignorance about the consequences for Europe was a major problem.
But that’s not all. There is a growing dispute over Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — a huge tax, climate and healthcare package.
Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said…
“The Inflation Reduction Act is very worrying. The potential impact on the European economy is very big.”
Tonino Picula, the European Parliament’s lead person on the transatlantic relationship, added…
“The US is following a domestic agenda, which is regrettably protectionist and discriminates against US allies.”
Biden’s NSC spokesperson, once again, defended this, stressing that the price setting for European buyers of gas reflects private market decisions and is not the result of any US government policy or action.
“US companies have been transparent and reliable suppliers of natural gas to Europe”
The IRA changed everything one EU diplomat said, which questioned whether Washington is still a European ally or not.
The NSC spokesperson empathized with EU concerns.
“While we understand that some trading partners have concerns with how the [electric vehicle] tax credit provisions in the IRA will operate in practice with respect to their producers, we are committed to continuing to work with them to better understand and do what we can to address their concerns.
“This is not a zero-sum game. The IRA will grow the pie for clean energy investments, not split it.”
The EU does not agree.
A France foreign affairs minister said these are “discriminatory subsidies that will distort competition.”
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire this week even accused the US of going down China’s path of economic isolationism, urging Brussels to replicate such an approach.
“Europe must not be the last of the Mohicans.”
German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer said…
“We are experiencing a creeping crisis of trust on trade issues in this relationship.”
“At some point, you have to assert yourself,” said French MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne. “We are in a world of power struggles. When you arm-wrestle, if you are not muscular, if you are not prepared both physically and mentally, you lose.”
There is also growing irritation about the money flowing into the American defence sector.
The US is the largest provider of military aid to Ukraine, supplying more than US$15.2 billion in weapons and equipment since the start of the war.
The Pentagon is already developing a roadmap to speed up arms sales, as the pressure from allies to respond to greater demands for weapons and equipment grows.
Another EU diplomat argued that “the money they are making on weapons” could help the US understand that making “all this cash on gas” might be “a bit too much.”
Europe is finally waking up to the foreign policy of sleepy Joe but will it get dressed and do something about it?
