(Bloomberg) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the U.S. decision to ease sanctions against Russia by temporarily allowing oil sales to try to ease pressure on prices triggered by the Iran war.
The Trump administration has issued its second authorization for buyers to take Russian oil cargoes already at sea, expanding a temporary waiver given last week to India. The move stoked concern among Ukraine’s allies that the Kremlin stands to benefit from the spike in energy prices and will use the extra funds to bankroll its four-year war on its western neighbor.
“Let me be very clear: we believe it would be wrong to ease sanctions now, for whatever reason,” Merz said Friday at a joint news conference with his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Støre.
“We will and we must continue to increase the pressure on Moscow,” the conservative German leader said. “We will not allow ourselves to be deterred or distracted from this by the war in Iran.”
The U.S. has taken a number of steps to try to tame oil prices since strikes on Iran began almost two weeks ago, including the planned release of 172 million barrels from its emergency oil reserve.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the decision on Russian oil was designed to be a “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” that “applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.”
Merz said Group of Seven leaders had discussed the issue of allowing Russian oil sales with Trump during a video call this week and six nations had “expressed a very clear view that this sends the wrong signal.”
“We then learned this morning that the U.S. government has apparently decided otherwise,” Merz added. “Once again: We believe this is wrong.”
Støre also expressed skepticism about the move, saying that “the most important signal that we can send to Russia is that this war has to end.”
Merz pointed to open questions regarding the U.S. strategy in Iran. “When will this war end? And what strategy will be used to bring this war to an end? These questions haven’t really been answered either,” he said.
“I want to say this very clearly once again: Germany is not part of this war. And we do not want to become part of it. In this respect, all our efforts are focused on ending this war.”
Economy Minister Katherina Reiche expressed concern at an earlier news conference in Berlin that the temporary U.S. authorization for Russian oil sales will help President Vladimir Putin fund his war on Ukraine.
“The US has announced its intention to ease sanctions, limiting them to a few specific quantities,” Reiche, who is also in charge of the energy portfolio, told reporters.
“It seems to me that the domestic political pressure in the US is very high – I’m worried that we might inadvertently further fill Putin’s war chest.”
