EU to Trump Administration: Stop US Trade Sanctions Threats

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this week the administration is ending grandfather clauses that had spared firms previously involved in the pipelines’ construction from sanctions authorized by the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a 2017 law aimed at punishing Russia, in particular, for interference in US elections and other matters.

The move opens the door for US economic and financial penalties to be imposed on any European or other foreign company over the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines, including those that had been working on the projects before the passage of the act and had been previously exempted from the penalties.

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Borrell said that “as a matter of principle the European Union opposes the use of sanctions by third countries on European companies carrying out legitimate business."

The Trump administration has lobbied Europe, particularly Germany, to abandon the pipelines, which it believes put Europe under greater influence from Russia, which has used its energy exports as political leverage.

Pompeo called the pipeline projects the “the Kremlin’s key tools to exploit and expand European dependence on Russian energy supplies,” which he said “ultimately undermine trans-Atlantic security.” 

(Writer: Raf Casert) 

Source: https://apnews.com/6f16585973305fcb8fc4a0540b865d22