OP-ED

Leonid Bershidsky: Trump forbids Nord Stream 2, but Europe pushes back

Published May 21, 2018. Updated May 21 at 1:20 pm

A picture taken on October 21, 2014 shows a valve and pipe at a gas pumping station in Donetsk. Russia, Ukraine and the EU began crunch gas talks to resolve a bitter price dispute and end fears that Moscow could halt crucial energy supplies to Europe this winter.

Photo by AFP

Nord Stream 2, the planned Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany across the floor of the Baltic Sea, is the latest front in the growing conflict between Europe and the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that President Donald Trump is demanding that Germany drop Nord Stream 2 as one of the conditions of a trade deal with Europe that wouldn’t include high tariffs on steel and aluminum.