As Europe grapples with skyrocketing energy costs as a result of appeasing radical climate activists and outsourcing energy production to hostile regimes, steps on how countries like Germany got here are being retraced.
During a speech to the United Nations in 2018, President Donald Trump warned Germany against becoming dependent on Russian oil and gas. They laughed it off.
"Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation. That is why we congratulate European states, such as Poland, for leading the construction of a Baltic pipeline so that nations are not dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course," Trump said. "Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers."
Trump went to the UN and called out countries for relying on Russian oil
— Jewish Patriot ?? (@MAGAJew2) March 6, 2022
The German delegation was caught on camera laughing at him for saying it pic.twitter.com/WDbwfOKvFN
The Trump administration sanctioned the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in order to curtail Russia's aggression and dominance over Europe. The Biden administration lifted those sanctions and only recently reimposed them after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
"The Biden administration waived sanctions on the company behind Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany and its chief executive, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, a move decried by critics of the project in Congress," Reuters reported in May 2021. "A State Department report sent to Congress concluded that Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity. But Blinken immediately waived those sanctions, saying that it was in the U.S. national interest."
After President Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. is banning the import of Russian oil, natural and gas and coal, President Trump responded. During Biden's announcement he acknowledged European "partners" weren't onboard with the ban.
"Just confirmed that most of Europe won’t go along with the United States in boycotting Russian oil and gas. As usual the United States will be left out there alone, being taken advantage of by Europe, as we defend them, while we read in the Fake News how everyone has come together under Biden to fight Russia," Trump released in a statement.