Something strange happened in the days immediately preceding
Trump's airstrikes on Syria: first Germany, then Italy, refused to join the US-led effort, which ultimately also included the UK and France. Commenting on this curious split within the European core, we said that "there are at least two European nations who remember that when it gets cold in the winter, there is one country they call to provide the natural gas they need for heating. Russia"
Fast forward two weeks, and it now appears that most of Europe has also remembered just how critical Russia is to the well-being of the continent, because
according to the FT,
a Europe-wide diplomatic push is under way to persuade the Trump administration to ease US sanctions targeting Russia, amid growing fears that the restrictions are so severe they threaten unleashing another economic recession across the continent.
In a stark reminder that every political action has an unexpected - and usually unpleasant - reaction, Paris, which is in charge of coordinating the anti-sanction effort after business limits on Russian metals companies caused aluminium and nickel prices to soar,
"is pushing allies including Berlin, London and Rome to make a joint representation in Washington."
As the
FT adds, the French-led initiative underscores the widening concern in Europe about the consequences that sanctions could have on key EU industries from cars to aerospace.
Echoing what we
said almost two weeks ago when commenting on the Rusal sanctions, a French official warned that the sanctions, which have crippled Russian aluminium producer Rusal, would have a
“direct and major impact on the provisioning of key products” and that a number of industrial plants in Europe were threatened with closure.
“They are not the kind which can be reopened overnight. So a solution is needed, and fast,” the official said. “Constructive engagement with the US is taking place.”
More at:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...sian-sanctions
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