Trump’s Merkel Strategy on Russia is smart?

Merkl famously warned that the US and other UN nations were engaging in overreach against Putin's interests in Ukraine and this could famously backfire. She was 100% correct. Poking the Bear didn't help. Nor do I excuse the Bear's actions.

The EU's future is in peril unless it again has access to reasonably priced energy. High costs for oil and natural gas are literally choking the life out of European manufacturing. It's in Putin's and their mutual interest to wrap this thing up and resume energy sales.

Trump’s Merkel Strategy on Russia

The U.S. is reportedly urging Europe to buy Russian natural gas. Angela Merkel and Barack Obama would approve.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

Nov. 2, 2026 5:43 pm ET

The Trump Administration’s latest brainstorm for ending the war in Ukraine may be the single worst idea in nearly two years of stillborn peace talks: Pushing Europe to return to buying Russian natural gas. Nothing says “America First” like suggesting that our friends replace their U.S. energy with fuel from a hostile dictator harassing Europe with drones and cyber attacks.

The Journal reports that the Administration’s negotiators are suggesting that Europe resume buying natural gas from Russia, perhaps via Ukraine. The theory as ever is that Mr. Putin will set down his guns and ballistic missiles if he understands the commercial riches that await him in the civilized world.

The hope is that one more carrot will finally make the Russian see the light. But the U.S. has tried waiving sanctions, buying Russian diesel fuel and offering glamor summits. Yet Mr. Putin is still insisting on his original, maximalist demand to turn Ukraine into a de facto Kremlin satellite, like Belarus.

The gas play is worse because it would also harm U.S. economic interests. The U.S., including President Trump, has for years pushed our European friends to diversify their energy supplies so they’re less dependent on Russian energy. The shock of the Ukraine invasion has finally persuaded Europe to wean itself off Russian natural gas, with an aim of no longer buying it sometime in 2027.

One vital substitute has been U.S. liquefied natural gas. LNG exports to Europe reached 10.3 billion cubic feet per day in 2025, up from about six billion in 2024. U.S. firms have invested tens of billions of dollars in LNG export terminals with an eye toward offering more reliable supplies. They have also signed long-term contracts with European countries and utilities. Mr. Trump’s intervention could jeopardize those contracts and make it harder for U.S. companies to raise capital to finance LNG projects.

Europe must also be astonished that it is supposed to return to buying gas from the Russian bully whose life ambition is to destroy NATO. America might as well not even bother asking Europe to increase its defense spending if the continent is hostage to Russian gas. Forget about a new realism animating a tougher NATO alliance, or a Europe more capable of defending itself and preserving its civilization.

The laugh-cry irony is that this would essentially be a return to the appease-the-Russian-bear strategy of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Barack Obama. Ms. Merkel was the architect of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Western Europe that Mr. Trump rightly criticized. They must be laughing it up over this one inside the Kremlin: Donald Barack Merkel.

Mr. Trump’s determination to appease Mr. Putin is starting to look less about finding a durable if imperfect peace in Ukraine and more about the Trump Administration wanting a reordered world and an entente with Russia at any cost. Mr. Trump is doing this as the reality on the battlefield in Ukraine is that Russia is losing the initiative and even some territory while enduring monthly casualties in the tens of thousands.

Yet the Administration is offering Mr. Putin lifelines that will help him prolong his bloodbath in Ukraine. Mr. Trump has tried to placate Mr. Putin for two years, and he appears no closer to ending the war than he was on Inauguration Day.