US sanctions on Germany over pipeline a self-defeating move

On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed a law into effect which targets companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which aims to directly supply Germany with natural gas from Russia via the Baltic Sea. The law includes travel bans on managers and shareholders of these companies, as well as blocking these individuals from conducting any business in the US. Due to this pressure, construction has, at least temporarily, halted. This happened as 1,200 kilometers of the pipeline have already been laid, with only 300 km left until completion.

It is important to note here that the US has passed a law, not a resolution, aiming to influence matters outside of the US. Imagine Germany passing a law regulating gas fracking plants inside the US, for example. The sanctions therefore constitute a clear violation against German sovereignty and have therefore been met with widespread condemnation by legislators and the public alike inside Germany. Even among critics of potential economic and environmental issues of the project, many are condemning the behavior of US legislators, seeing it as interference in Germany’s internal affairs.

The US, increasingly since the beginning of the Trump presidency, has been attempting to stop European states from importing energy sources from Russia, with the goal of promoting exports of its own expensive American fracking gas at the same time, with sanctions hitting the Russian energy sector in 2017, for example. Russia’s “involvement in the Syrian war”, “cyberattacks” and “interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” have been cited as reasons for these sanctions.

Germans united in opposition

It seems that through this measure, which is more directly aimed at NATO-ally Germany than any previous sanctions, many are starting to reconsider the sincerity and reliability of US-German relations and contemplating a reorientation of future economic and diplomatic allegiances. Equal condemnation across most political parties in Germany can be observed, decrying a violation of German sovereignty as well as international law.

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas said: “The European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the US. We fundamentally reject outside interference and sanctions with extraterritorial effects.”

Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz had similar words to say: “Such sanctions are a severe intrusion into Germany’s and Europe’s internal affairs and sovereignty, and we strongly reject that. It is by the way something not appropriate at all among NATO-allies.”

Rolf Mützenich, chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the German parliament, furthermore commented: “It appears that the EU and Germany are not allied Partners for Trump, but vassals subject to tribute. Independence is being sanctioned. We will not bow to these methods of extortion.”

Politician of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and member of parliament Joachim Pfeiffer called the sanctions “a hostile act of the US against its allies and all of Europe.”

Many German commentators on social media expressed similar sentiment, with some calling for “now more than ever”, referring to the construction of the pipeline, and some even demanded politicians to react with retaliatory sanctions. One observer wrote: “It is certainly true that we have many things to thank the US for, such as post-war development and reunification. But does this give a controversial US president the right to coerce us, with the goal of exporting his dangerous fracking-gas?”

Although the German government has so far refrained from initiating retaliatory sanctions, with Chancellor Merkel warning “not to encourage a spiral of sanctions with counter-measures”, both the German and Russian sides have signaled that they are willing to continue the project regardless of the sanctions.

‘Cold war 2.0’ doomed to fail

Contrary to recent US foreign policy, countries such as Russia and China are increasingly opening up to further economic cooperation, though measures such as the New Silk Road, instead of forcing trade dependencies through coercion and sanctions.

In many regards, this makes them more attractive long-term trade and economic partners than the US, with its isolationist policies solely focused on self-interests instead of mutual benefits. These sanctions are a further step in revealing the real face of American interests, since it does not shy away from even targeting countries such as Germany - which is a longtime friend and ally with a very similar political system. If it continues to pursue only its own interests, the US will further isolate itself from more and more countries in the future, hurting itself in the long-term.

The recent sanctions on Germany are another step in a long chain of events that in the long run will damage US reliability, even among European leaders. Among them are acts such as pulling out of the Iran deal, imposing sanctions on the European company Airbus, and pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. Also, the recent measures are in line with the US pressuring countries not to adapt Chinese 5G technology - it comes from the same line of reasoning from the same US legislators. The aim in all these measures is the same: creating dependencies on the US in all fields: technology, resources, trade, military, etc.

If there is not a major shift in American foreign policy soon, countries like Germany will more and more turn to seek new, more reliable partners for cooperation.

Recent US behavior reminds us of Cold War mentalities: such as President Reagan trying to pressure Germany and others not to import Russian gas in the 80s, out of “security concerns” – but failing to stop the import even then. Nowadays, with countries like Russia and China choosing multilateralism instead of isolationism, the attempts of the US to create new “cold war 2.0” camp mentality seems doomed to fail, as seen by the condemnation of US actions by the German public and legislators alike.

The author is a masters' degree student in Economy and Society of East Asia at the University of Vienna.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.