Get Ready For a Merkel-Biden Bust-Up Over Russian Gas
Despite the outward affection between their leaders, the U.S. and Germany have bitter differences, starting with a Russian pipeline. Is there a solution?
Now, about Nord Stream 2…
Photographer: Christian Marquardt/Getty Images
The new transatlantic honeymoon isn’t over yet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, like most European leaders, is still basking in the afterglow of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president of the U.S. After Number 45, of course, she’d have warm feelings for anybody.
And yet, it’s just a matter of time — days or weeks — before they’ll need to have an awkward talk. The topic will be Russia. The U.S. and Germany have long been at odds about an almost finished pipeline that would carry Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany. It’s called Nord Stream 2 because it would double the capacity of an existing pipeline in the same waters.