Just before the U.S. sanctions were imposed, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas emphasized that "European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the United States," adding "We reject external interference."
Peter Beyer, coordinator of transatlantic cooperation in German federal government, warned that an escalation spiral with countermeasures would not make sense, but stressed that the United States also had an interest to develop their own liquid gas market in Europe.
However, liquid natural gas - mostly fracked - from the U.S. is considerably more expensive and is highly controversial in Germany.
"Fracking technology can lead to contamination of the groundwater," the German Environment Agency (UBA) found. Environmentalists are very concerned about the use of chemicals and the disposal of the resulting wastewater. Unlike in the United States, only so-called conventional fracking in sandstone is permitted in Germany.
Claudia Kemfert, head of the department of energy, transportation, environment at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW), sharply criticized the sanctions as "absolutely unacceptable" and an "aggressive means of a fossil energy war" and demanded countermeasures.
"Europe should consider imposing climate tariffs on the U.S. so that no environmentally harmful fracked gas can be exported from the U.S. to Germany and Europe," Kemfert told the newspaper Handelsblatt.
Defending the sanctions, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell described the sanctions as "a very pro-European decision."
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