Washington has threatened to cut European access to American liquefied natural gas unless Brussels accepts a new tariff agreement, in what amounts to energy blackmail from the continent's closest ally.
The threat, reported by Le Figaro, exposes the fundamental vulnerability at the heart of Europe's post-2022 energy pivot. After cutting itself off from Russian pipeline gas following the invasion of Ukraine, the EU now finds itself dependent on American LNG—and Washington knows it.
Brussels decides more than you think—except when Washington has the gas valve.
The timing validates everything Paris has argued about autonomie stratégique. When Emmanuel Macron warned that Europe needed energy independence, this is precisely the scenario he envisioned: an ally leveraging resource dependence for trade concessions.
The Numbers Tell the Story
American LNG now accounts for nearly half of Europe's gas imports, up from less than 15% before the war in Ukraine. The EU imported 56 billion cubic meters of US LNG in 2025, making it America's largest customer and giving Washington extraordinary leverage.
Germany and Poland, the two largest importers of American gas, face particularly acute pressure. Berlin, which built new LNG terminals at breakneck speed after cutting Russian imports, now finds those terminals are instruments of American commercial policy. , which championed US energy ties as strategic insurance against , discovers that insurance comes with conditions.
