US extends suspension of Russian oil sanctions, triggering clash with EU

Brussels – The United States has once again decided to ease economic sanctions against Russia, while the European Union has “rejected” Donald Trump’s America, marking a new moment of tension in transatlantic relations, just as the European Union is attending the G7 Finance Ministers’ Meeting. It is here that the rift, the latest in a series, between the two sides of the Atlantic is playing out. “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has informed us of the decision” to extend the sanctions exemption for Rosneft oil for a further 30 days, says the Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, on the sidelines of the meeting, criticising the White House’s choice: “From the EU’s perspective, this is not the time to ease the pressure on Russia.” 

Europeans are unhappy with Trump, as both the Commission and Member States have already made clear. Specifically, the United States has initiated an armed conflict with Iran, creating an unprecedented energy crisis, which it now believes it can resolve by allowing Russian oil tankers to pass freely, exempt from the restrictive measures imposed in response to the aggression against Ukraine. This is a politically unacceptable and unsustainable situation for the EU, with Dombrovskis not holding back in his condemnation of the US decision.

“In fact, Moscow is profiting from the war in Iran and from rising oil prices,” the Commissioner for Economic Affairs laments once again, convinced that, given the situation, “if anything, we should be increasing the pressure” on the Russian Federation and its leader, Vladimir Putin. Which is not the case. “Secretary Bessent has assured us that this is a temporary measure, but it is already the second extension of a measure that was only supposed to last thirty days,” Dombrovskis said, in words that reveal how the EU no longer trusts its US counterpart. 

Whether it is tariffs, the NATO military alliance and partnership, or sanctions against Russia, these are practically all the sensitive issues on which the Trump administration constantly changes its mind, making the rules of the game fluid and subject to change with remarkable ease. For Europeans, relations with the United States are becoming increasingly complicated, and what was once a historic partner is now a thorn in the side. Dombrovskis’s comments merely confirm the deterioration of EU-US relations.