Trump has already brought down the tariff hammer, but the US President also wants “global energy dominance”.
April 12, 2026, 08:48April 12, 2026, 08:48
Amid all the embarrassments, Trump is getting closer to a great goal, whether through luck or skill.Image: keystone
Donald Trump is embarrassing himself in Iran. He expected an easy victory. Weeks later he is looking for a way out that will save face. He promised a ceasefire. The weapons never stood still. He has declared the Strait of Hormuz reopened. Hardly any tankers still get through. The price of oil that can be delivered immediately, however, is at its highest level in almost 40 years increased.
But in the midst of all the embarrassments, Trump is getting closer to a big goal, whether through luck or skill. After the customs hammer, he also wants to swing an energy hammer. In his national security strategy, he calls it “America’s global energy dominance.” This should enable the USA to “demonstrate its power if necessary”.
Trump never called himself the “oil king” the way he touted himself as the “tariff king,” but he apparently cares about oil just as much as tariffs. In his inaugural speech he announced: “We will be a rich nation again, and this liquid gold under our feet will help us do that.”
In fact, the USA already produces a lot of shale oil and gas, making it a fossil energy superpower: it is by far the world’s largest producer, almost as big as Russia and Saudi Arabia combined. But that’s apparently not enough for Trump. He probably wants an energy dominance that, in his typical words, “no one has ever seen.” As soon as he took office, he founded a “National Council on Energy Dominance”. He follows a policy of “drill, baby, drill”.
The Crown Prince has to “kiss Trump’s ass”
His ambitions to annex more land to the USA also revolve around oil, as various statements show. Of the 2003 Iraq War, Trump said regretfully, “we should have kept the oil.” In Venezuela he wants to “secure oil revenues for the benefit of the American and Venezuelan people.” In the Iran He would “take the oil, keep it and make a lot of money with it.” He would “take much better care” of the people in Iran anyway.
Trump apparently wants to use energy dominance as a means of coercion in a similar way to the American market. Anyone who wants to sell something there has to give Trump a gold Rolex and a gold bar. And invest in the USA. Or buy US energy. Otherwise the tariff hammer will come down. And soon the energy hammer too. Greg Ip, chief economist at the Wall Street Journal, warns that the US sees itself as a self-interested actor “using control of oil to gain its own power strengthen.»
Trump, on the other hand, apparently doesn’t need allies – or only to force them to make concessions. He broke trade agreements with them and blackmailed them with his tariffs. Then he wanted Canada. The Panama Canal. Greenland. Venezuela’s oil. Iran’s petroleum. He did not warn his allies before his attack on Iran. Later, when he needed their help, he didn’t get it and cursed: The NATO defense alliance “wasn’t there when we needed it” – now he’s considering leaving.
He insults his allies uncontrollably. French President Emmanuel Macron is being “treated very badly by his wife”. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “didn’t expect that he would have to kiss my ass.”
A great power commits suicide in slow motion
All of this is a “slow-motion suicide by a great power” for the former head of the CIA, William Burns. Trump is only relying on his own strength and is losing former allies, says Burns in an interview with the magazine «Foreign Affairs». The US historian Robert Kagan said for the same reason in an interview with “The Bulwark“The USA is more isolated and weak than ever before in the past 100 years and is today a”Rogue superstate».
A Trump who doesn’t value allies could attack Europe with the energy hammer. Even before the Iran war, European think tanks warned: “Europe’s growing dependence on the USA poses a risk to energy security.” Vladimir Putin first attacked Ukraine and then cut off the gas supply to the Europeans. The USA stepped in. But in doing so, Europe has simply replaced one dominant supplier with another. “The USA is no longer seen intervening in the gas markets to put pressure on Europe unthinkable.»
With the Iran war, European concerns have increased. According to the Financial Times, a race has emerged for American oil and gas: “A fleet of Asian tankers is heading to American ports.” The Europeans will have to offer more to get their oil and liquid gas – and the US oil industry will have to, according to the Financial Times.Record export».
Trump would also apparently like to exercise energy dominance in the struggle with China. This is reported by the Bloomberg news agency, citing people close to Trump. China sources a lot of oil from Iran and also from other Middle Eastern countries via the Strait of Hormuz. If Trump could “take” Iranian oil, as he puts it, he could stop supplies to China. Or with it threaten.
Trump could also try to do like Iran – and exert influence over the Strait of Hormuz himself. He already has such plans indicated. According to the US think tank Atlantic Council, it could play into Trump’s hands if peace in the Strait of Hormuz remains shaky. Then the USA would have to keep troops stationed there for a long time – and Trump would have influence on the streets Hormuz.
The big threat to Trump’s big oil dreams
However, Trump can easily get tangled up in all these geopolitical intrigues. While high oil prices make the U.S. oil industry happy, its voters have to pay more for gas and their cost of living. The price of gasoline has already risen sharply, as has general inflation.
And oil could soon no longer be Trump’s “liquid gold” if renewable energies continue to grow. They already beat fossil fuels by far when it comes to electricity production. And they enable domestic production that protects against geopolitical shocks in the Middle East or Trump’s attempts at blackmail.
China knows this. That’s why it promotes electric cars, wind and solar energy and will probably be the first electric state in the world. Europe knows this, which is why the European Central Bank recommends that the energy transition be pushed forward quickly. And the Trump administration apparently knows this too. That’s why she considers renewable energies to be one threat their own fossil energy dominance and complain about Europe’s alleged “Climate cult».