Europe’s Plight Proves Trump Right Again on Energy Independence

During his first term, elected Democrats and liberal media pundits criticized, downplayed, and dismissed President Donald Trump’s intense focus on making the United States energy independent. But as Europe faces yet another dire energy shortage, Trump is once again vindicated.

As The Wall Street Journal reported late last week, “For the second time in four years, Europe is hunting for new natural-gas supplies after a war exposed its vulnerability to the geopolitics of energy.” With 20 percent of global supplies of liquified natural gas (LNG) trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the ongoing hostilities in Iran, Europe is suddenly facing not only energy price shocks, but the serious possibility of shortages.

European governments have cast themselves as the victims in this burgeoning crisis, but the reality is that it is a crisis of their own making – and one that Trump warned them about nearly a decade ago.

Back in 2018, Trump famously criticized Germany for signing a pipeline deal with Russia, pointing out that it would make Germany a “captive” of Putin’s regime in Moscow. “Germany will have almost 70 percent of their country controlled by Russia with natural gas. You tell me, is that appropriate?” he asked.

Trump later extended that criticism to the rest of Western Europe, blasting liberal governments for relying on imports from Russia to keep the lights on. “We’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting all of these countries,” Trump said. “And then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they’re paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia.”

The need to import Russian oil and gas was only created in the first place because Western Europe decommissioned most of its coal and nuclear power plants in pursuit of “net zero” carbon emissions goals that were always a scientific and financial impossibility. Wind and solar were never going to be able to meet the continent’s energy demands, resulting in Europe falling back on Russian energy supplies.

Trump’s warning about this foolhardy strategy proved prescient four years later when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and cut off energy shipments to Europe. With cold winter temperatures approaching, many European nations faced the alarming prospect of widespread blackouts.

As a result, Germany was forced to restart or extend the lifespan of some 20 coal-fueled power plants. France also scrambled to restart many of its nuclear reactors. Disaster was averted, but energy prices throughout the continent soared as governments looked for alternative sources – including LNG from countries like Qatar.

Europe became heavily reliant on LNG supplies from the small Persian Gulf nation, which controls about 15 percent of the world’s known reserves. But Iranian strikes have severely damaged Qatar’s LNG plants, which could take years to repair.

Europe’s current predicament is not some unforeseeable tragedy. It is the direct result of deliberate policy choices made over many years. Leaders across the continent willingly shuttered reliable coal plants, stalled or dismantled nuclear capacity, and tied their energy future to intermittent sources that could never shoulder the full load of modern industrial economies.

In doing so, they subordinated practical energy security to ideological climate targets. The result is what we are witnessing today in a wealthy, advanced region scrambling for fuel, exposed to geopolitical shocks, and forced into costly emergency measures to keep homes heated and industries running.

In other words, this crisis was optional. Europe could have charted a different course – one that balanced environmental goals with the hard realities of energy demand and national security. Instead, it chose dependence. And dependence, as Trump warned, always comes with a price.

That reality throws into sharp relief the importance of what Trump achieved in the United States. During his first term, America became energy independent for the first time in nearly seven decades. That shift fundamentally changed the country’s strategic position. While global oil prices still fluctuate and American consumers feel the impact at the pump, the United States is no longer vulnerable to the kind of supply shocks that once triggered lines at gas stations and rationing in the 1970s. We produce what we need.

Trump’s vision, as he reiterated throughout his 2024 campaign, was never about rejecting renewables outright. It was about rejecting a hierarchy that elevates them above more reliable and affordable energy sources. His “all of the above” approach recognizes the simple truth that energy policy must be grounded in low costs, reliability, and national interest, not wishful thinking.

Ultimately, Trump understood what Europe ignored. Energy independence is not just an economic advantage, but a cornerstone of national sovereignty. Europe is now learning that lesson the hard way. The United States, thanks to Trump’s foresight, is not.

Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.