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Trump to promote US natural gas exports in Russia’s neighbours

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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will use fast-growing supplies of US natural gas as a political tool when he meets in Warsaw on Thursday with leaders of a dozen countries that are captive to Russia for their energy needs.


In recent years, Moscow has cut off gas shipments during pricing disputes with neighbouring countries in winter months. Exports from the United States would help reduce their dependence on Russia.


Trump will tell the group that Washington wants to help allies by making it as easy as possible for US companies to ship more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to central and eastern Europe, the White House said.


Trump will attend the “Three Seas” summit — so named because several of its members surround the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas — before the Group of 20 leading economies meet in Germany, where he is slated to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time.


Among the aims of the Three Seas project is to expand regional energy infrastructure, including LNG import terminals and gas pipelines.


Members of the initiative include Poland, Austria, Hungary and Russia’s neighbours Latvia and Estonia.


Trump’s presence will give the project a lift, said James Jones, a former Nato Supreme Allied Commander.


Increased US gas exports to the region would help weaken the impact of Russia using energy as a weapon or bargaining chip, said Jones.


“I think the United States can show itself as a benevolent country by exporting energy and by helping countries that don’t have adequate supplies become more self-sufficient and less dependent and less threatened,” he said.


Trump’s Russia policy is still taking shape, a process made awkward by investigations into intelligence findings that Russia tried to meddle in the 2016 US presidential race.


— Reuters


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