Fracking: The fuse for Trump’s trade war

Fracking: The fuse for Trump’s trade war Widely used in the United States for hydrocarbon extraction, this technique enables the new administration to redefine its position in the global economy without concerns over energy security New York, 2010. At the legendary Cipriani restaurant on Wall Street, the oil industry gathers to honor its own at the Platts Global Energy Awards. At the event, an executive casually extols the virtues of a rapidly expanding technique in the hydrocarbon sector: fracking.

He predicts it will revolutionize the oil and natural gas markets , transforming the United States from a hydrocarbon importer into an energy-exporting powerhouse. The executive had good information. Just over a decade later, the U.



S. has become the world’s leading producer of natural gas — accounting for 25% of global output — surpassing even Russia and Iran, and achieving energy self-sufficiency . Fracking, which extracts shale oil and gas by fracturing rock with pressurized water and injected chemicals, has become the fuse for Donald Trump’s trade war.

Gas and oil extracted through fracking — primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Louisiana — now fuel both the civilian and military needs of the United States. This energy security has empowered the current administration to rethink the foundations of global trade, free from fears of supply shortages. It’s not just about natural gas, much of which is exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG); in 2022, two-thirds of all U.

S. oil came from fracking, a dramatic increase from less than 7% two decades earlier. Since 2015, oil extracted via hydraulic fracturing has accounted for more than half of the country’s total crude production, according to the U.

S. Energy Information Administration. Trump has abandoned any pretense of environmental concern.

He withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for a second time and is now leveraging the nation’s hydrocarbon abundance to reshape trade relations — especially with the European Union.

It’s no longer just about money, but also about geopolitical influence: U.S. gas instead of Russian gas.

Trump has hinted that he could lower tariffs — currently on pause — if the EU agrees to purchase $350 billion worth of American energy. This poses a new challenge for Brussels. According to Eurostat, the EU imported 45.

3% of its LNG and 16.1% of its oil from the U.S.

in 2024 — well above the shares imported from Russia (17.5%) and Norway (13.5%).

The Trump administration has embraced the controversial technology of fracking — a method criticized for using not only water but also chemical compounds in undisclosed proportions. However, the strategic gamble on fracking didn’t start with Trump. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 under president Barack Obama, actively promoted fracking both domestically and abroad.

In 2010, she introduced the “Global Shale Gas Initiative: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Concerns,” a policy that signaled strong institutional support for unconventional hydrocarbons. Within the State Department, the Bureau of Energy Resources was tasked with assessing foreign policy challenges related to energy over the next 25 years. According to documents from Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission, the U.

S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) under Obama produced the first global assessments of technically recoverable shale oil and gas in 2011 and 2013. These reports analyzed 137 shale formations across 41 countries.

An updated version in 2015 expanded the scope to include Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. By 2013, the EIA already acknowledged the global significance of these resources. “Globally, 32% of the total estimated natural gas resources are in shale formations, while 10% of estimated oil resources are in shale or tight formations,” it said in a report .

In this context, Canada’s potential as a producer of shale gas — long recognized by the United States — helps explain Trump’s annexationist rhetoric. The notion of Canada as the 51st state of the U.S.

is underscored by its rich energy resources. Canada began using hydraulic fracking in the Montney Formation in British Columbia in 2005, followed by the Horn River Basin in 2006. Interest in these reserves soon spread to Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec.

According to a 2020 report from the Canadian government, the country holds 11 geological formations rich in shale and tight gas. Additionally, Canada possesses significant unconventional oil fields in formations such as Bakken/Exshaw, Montney/Doig, Duvernay/Muskwa, Cardium and the Beaverhill Lake Group, Viking, Lower Shaunavon, Lower Amaranth, Macasty (Anticosti Island), Green Point, and Canol, according to the 2013 EIA report. It is a highly desirable energy cache.

In Europe, the EIA identified shale gas potential in as many as 13 countries. However, the technology has failed to take off due to environmental concerns. In Spain, fracking was effectively banned under the 2020 Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, halting the ambitions of companies like Sociedad de Hidrocarburos de Euskadi (SHESA) — partially controlled by the Basque regional government — and Oil&Gas Capital, backed by Basque investors and executives, including some affiliated with companies such as Gamesa and Iberdrola.

Meanwhile, the EIA — the statistical and analytical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy — continues to forecast a favorable outlook for the U.

S. gas industry. Its most recent report predicts an 18% increase in gas exports this year, spurred in part by new liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, such as the Plaquemines LNG facility in Louisiana, which became operational at the end of 2024.

The U.S. now boasts eight LNG export terminals.

“Although China is not currently importing LNG from the United States,” the EIA notes , “we assess that ample global demand for LNG and flexible destination clauses [...

] mean that U.S. LNG exports will be largely unaffected by recent trade policy developments.

” To borrow the 2008 slogan of Maryland’s former lieutenant governor Michael Steele: “Drill, baby, drill.” Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo ¿Quieres añadir otro usuario a tu suscripción? Si continúas leyendo en este dispositivo, no se podrá leer en el otro. ¿Por qué estás viendo esto? Tu suscripción se está usando en otro dispositivo y solo puedes acceder a EL PAÍS desde un dispositivo a la vez.

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