Trade War with Russia Disguised as Sanctions?

The US sanctions voted on by Congress against Russia are outrageous and an act of War that history will write as this may have been the line in the sand crossed by the USA to punish Russia for Hillary’s loss. Clearly, the new sanctions have important implications for Europe because they target any company that contributes to the development, maintenance or modernization of Russia’s energy export pipelines. This sanction reeks of politics that is really a trade war disguised as national security and pride. We have to dig deeper to see which politicians are getting paid by the American energy industry now and for the next election.
These sanctions would surely affect a controversial pipeline project between Russia and Germany known as Nord Stream 2, which is owned by Gazprom but includes financial stakes from European companies. The project aims to carry Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea, bypassing countries like Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States. When US President Donald Trump visited Poland in July 2017, he said that the US would increase its liquefied petroleum gas supplies (LNG) to Europe, which was very enthusiastically supported by the Poles. This was obviously a statement that was a direct competition with Gazprom that would distort competition for the European energy market.

This post was published at Armstrong Economics on Aug 10, 2017.