For too long Washington blackmailed German companies and threatened them with sanctions for participation in Nord Stream-2 project. The American administration will have to pay for this approach in dollar positions.
The German edition “Der Spiegel” writes about it.
As noted in the media, the European Union has tolerated U.S. pressure for too long, not trying to resist even when European interests were at stake. Now the commonwealth countries need a decisive counterstrike.
Washington has criticized Berlin for buying Russian gas while actively buying oil from Russia itself. The U.S. spending on Russian raw materials is only 23% less than that of Germany. And that’s not to mention the fact that during the severe cold season, Boston was supplied with Russian liquefied gas from Yamal.
The problem is that such obvious arguments are not able to tame the American administration. The German economy continues to be threatened there, although observance of U.S. sanctions “will become a violation of European law”, emphasizes Der Spiegel.
“It turns out that the administration of Mukran port, as well as about 120 European companies faced the choice between observance of USA sanctions or observance of European laws”, – the article says.
If the U.S. forces business to make such a choice, Germany must respond decisively. Raising customs duties on U.S. LNG, refusing to buy weapons from the United States and sanctions against Washington-based officials are standard EU measures.
Moreover, for U.S. pressure not to have such a serious effect, Europe needs to push the U.S. currency off the podium and take the euro to a global level. In this regard, Der Spiegel offers European businesses to give up trading in dollars.