Five open questions about the EU-US energy deal

While both parties tout their recent trade deal, experts and officials are looking for answers on everything that Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump’s deal does not say. Many uncertainties remain — not least behind the $750 billion of US energy purchases that Brussels put on the table.
30 July 2025 at 8h00
Energy
Christoph Burgstedt/iStock
by Damien Genicot Adapted from French by Jack Schickler and Gabriela Galindo

The EU’s apparent pledge to buy around $750 billion (some €650bn) in energy products from the US over the next three years formed an eye-catching feature of the trade deal both sides agreed to on 27 July.

It’s not the first time US President Donald Trump has zeroed-in on the energy sector — and on fossil fuels in particular — as a means of correcting a perceived trade deficit with the EU. In April, he suggested the bloc should buy…

Further reading

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In depth

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Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
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JÉRÉMIE LUCIANI-CONTEXTE

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‘If need be, we will go it alone’: EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan on the Russian oil price cap, post-Trump ‘If need be, we will go it alone’: EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan on the Russian oil price cap, post-Trump
Interview

‘If need be, we will go it alone’: EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan on the Russian oil price cap, post-Trump

As the EU prepares its eighteenth package of restrictive measures on Russia, David O’Sullivan — the former European Commission Secretary-General and EU ambassador to the US who was appointed EU Sanctions Envoy in January 2023 — discusses the bid to make oil exports ‘more expensive, more complicated, less profitable,’ the security issues posed by oil tankers in the Russian shadow fleet, and the ‘conflicting noises’ that now come from the US.
Russian fuels
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EU-US relations
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Baltic Sea infrastructure
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Russia sanctions
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Energy prices

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