President Trump and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at length today in advance of the upcoming G20 summit in Hamburg Germany and they set up a pre-summit meeting for Thursday. President Trump leaves for Europe this Wednesday 7/5/17.

President Trump is expected to promote U.S. natural gas exports (LNG) during a scheduled enthusiastic visit to Poland. Fraulein Merkel is not happy; not one little bit. Merkel wants EU to buy LNG from Russia.

There’s a massive amount of irony in the narrative that Merkel is the savior of global leftist ideology yet she wants to be even more cozy with Russia for energy. Meanwhile, regarding President Trump, the Merkel supporting left is on an anti-Russia crusade. Go figure.

(Via Reuters) […] Europeans will be watching to see whether Trump clarifies his administration’s position on a new pipeline to pump Russian gas to Germany, known as Nord Stream 2. The U.S. Senate in June passed a package of sanctions on Russia, including provisions to penalize Western firms involved in the pipeline. The new sanctions have stalled in the House of Representatives.

The U.S. State Department has lobbied against the pipeline as a potential supply chokepoint that would make Europe more vulnerable to disruptions. The threat of sanctions adds to tensions between Washington and Berlin. Germany’s government supports the pipeline, and Trump’s position on it is a concern for European diplomats. (read more)