Politico: EU ditching Russian energy for US was top of Trumps' agenda In talks with von der Leyen

US President Donald Trump made it a top priority to convince European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to shift away from Russian energy imports and instead commit to buying American fuel, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

“When US President Donald Trump met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to finalise their trade deal, the US leader’s ‘No. 1’ priority was to convince Europe to ‘stop buying Russian energy’ and ‘buy it from us’ instead,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private exchange, told Politico, Caliber.Az cites. 

“And they agreed,” the official added. “It is just such a complete change … and it’s a commitment to buy from America.”

The official claimed that Trump initially pushed von der Leyen to commit to $1 trillion in US energy purchases during his term but eventually agreed to a figure of $750 billion — roughly $250 billion per year.

However, analysts and officials on both sides of the Atlantic have cast doubt on the feasibility of such a deal. The proposed numbers are non-binding and widely viewed as hyperbolic. To meet the suggested volume, the US would have to redirect all of its energy exports to Europe and still increase output by around 50 per cent.

At the same time, the EU would need to abandon most of its other foreign energy suppliers — including those offering cheaper rates — and more than triple its current intake of American fuel.

Adding to the challenge, Europe lacks the infrastructure necessary to handle such volumes of US fuel, and private energy companies — which make purchasing decisions independently — can not be legally obligated to follow the plan.

In 2024, US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the EU were valued at $20.3 billion, according to data from the trading platform Kpler. That figure represented 53 percent of all US LNG exports, highlighting the growing but still limited scale of transatlantic energy trade.

By Sabina Mammadli