Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-27 20:35:49|Editor: Zhou Xin

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BERLIN, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Brigitte Zypries (SPD), the German Minister for Economics and Energy, has warned against a potential trade war between EU and the United States on Thursday.

Speaking on German news channel ARD in response to Washington's announcement of new sanctions against Russia, she said that such an outcome "would be very bad."

Zypries voiced hope that the sanctions had not been imposed to harm Europe, but said that "the end result is still that our companies could suffer."

The EU is already discussing retaliatory measures, something which Zypries said was possible and sanctioned by the World Trade Organization.

She also vaguely alluded to "other sanctions" which the EU could adopt.

The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a legislative draft which would lead to stricter economic sanctions against Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The law still has to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump in order to be enacted.

The Russian oil and gas industry would be particularly hard hit by the measures, leading German business representatives to warn that economic cooperation on energy supply between Moscow and Berlin could be jeopardized.

Volker Treier, the head of international trade at the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, DIHK) warned that a resulting freeze of pipeline projects "would heavily affect the German economy as well."

He called on the European Commission to demand a clarification from Washington and prevent that new U.S. sanctions against Russia applied to firms in different countries.

"The impression remains that the U.S. side is prioritizing its own economic interests," Treier added with view to the U.S. oil and gas industry. The sanctions were not coordinated with the European Union.

On Thursday, Gernot Erler, German government's official Coordinator for Intersocietal Cooperation with Russia, echoed such concerns.

"The rejection of the Nord Stream II project is literally included in the legislative draft, but actually every European-Russian cooperation on energy supply could be sanctioned, including the maintenance of pipelines which EU energy supply relies on," Erler told the newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

Nord Stream II is a pipeline project between Russia and Germany under the Baltic See which is planned to deliver natural gas to Europe from 2019 onwards.

Erler criticized that the U.S. government was prioritizing the export of its own energy in order to create jobs in the United States and strengthen its foreign policy.

"This type of "America First" element does not belong in a sanctions regime which places value on the common ground shared by allies," he said.

In contrast to the negative reactions expressed by Germany at the prospect of new anti-Russian sanctions, the former leader of the Green party Reinhard Buetikofer told the newspaper Bild that Nord Stream II was "not economically sensible."

Following Buetikofer, the newspaper contradicted the core objectives of European energy policy and "increased reliance on Russia for gas while harming the interests of our Eastern neighbors, above all Poland."

His statement was met with support from Claudia Kemfert, the head of the Energy division of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).

"Nord Stream II is not necessary for German energy supply," she told Bild.