As it usually happens in the market, friendship ends exactly where big money-business is involved. History of international economic relations has shown that even the closest allies abandon each other when it comes to trade and high yield.
Currently, something similar is happening in the relations between the US and Europe. The once unbreakable alliance was beginning to crack at the seams. The reason for it lies in the economic benefit from the Russian gas for one party and losses for the other. Europe is well aware of the fact that the decision to buy Russian gas would inevitably lead to the conflict with the US as gas revenues make up a significant part of the Russian budget. However, at present, Europe cannot find good quality and inexpensive alternatives to Russian gas. The dispute between the EU and the US on this matter has been going on since the annexation of Crimea. Curiously enough, Europe refused to buy American natural gas due to the simple fact that it is more expensive. Even if Europe wanted to cut ties with Russia once and for all, and stop buying its gas, it would be unable to do it due to the economic reasons mentioned above. According to Christian Pegel, Minister for Energy, Infrastructure, and State Development in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Europe cannot wean itself off the Russian gas needle. It means that Germany, as much as it wants to, cannot completely stop buying Russian gas. It is building LNG terminals for gas storage.
Recently, the representatives of 24 EU countries protested against the United States over its plans to impose new sanctions against Nord Stream 2. The European delegation expressed a note of protest to the US State Department during a video conference.
