By inviting Vladimir Putin to Alaska on August 15, Donald Trump is putting the territory the United States bought from tsarist Russia in 1867 back on the world’s geopolitical map. The 82-kilometer-wide Bering Strait locks the passage from the Pacific to the Arctic, now increasingly free of ice, for the two nuclear powers. Trump is also putting Alaska back on the world energy map.
Since taking office, Trump has urged companies to “Drill, baby, drill.” His so-called tariff negotiations have pressured allies into buying American liquefied natural gas (LNG): $750 billion over three years from the European Union (EU), $100 billion from South Korea and an unspecified amount from Japan. Meanwhile, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam have expressed interest in US LNG but have not signed binding agreements.
These promises and forced expressions of interest are one thing, but the reality on the ground is another. The European pledge, in particular, is completely unrealistic, as we’ll get back to later.
There are two possible routes to buy natural gas. One is the Gulf of Mexico, where LNG tankers currently depart with Texan shale gas bound for Europe. However, this option is not ideal for Asian buyers, who must sail south of the equator, cross the expensive Panama Canal and then traverse the Pacific.
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