Europe Hardens as Washington Loosens: Merz Calls the Diesel Deal "Out of the Question," Six GOP Senators Call It "a Gift to Our Adversary"

Europe Hardens as Washington Loosens: Merz Calls the Diesel Deal "Out of the Question," Six GOP Senators Call It "a Gift to Our Adversary"

UPDATE (Oct 12–13, 2026): the same week the EU voted through its largest-ever sanctions expansion (~1,600 listings, Oct 12), the US-Russia diesel deal opened the sharpest transatlantic split of the war¹ — with rebellion inside Trump's own party.

• Berlin breaks ranks. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, at a Berlin press conference Monday after his CDU leadership retreat: the US-brokered diesel arrangement is "out of the question" for Germany and Europe — "For Germany and Europe, such a decision is out of the question." Russia "will only negotiate seriously under pressure," so pressure should increase, not ease. He ruled out immediate peace negotiations under current conditions and said EU leaders would work toward a "just and lasting peace" at the Brussels summit Thursday-Friday (Oct 15-16).
• The GOP revolt. Twelve US senators — including six Republicans (Murkowski, Collins, Armstrong, McConnell, Cornyn, Tillis) — wrote to Trump demanding he pull the deal: it is "a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies." Their letter: "Allowing Russian-origin diesel into global markets will offer limited to no relief to Americans... but the revenues the Kremlin will receive from this agreement will undoubtedly finance its desired war of attrition and advance its security cooperation with China, Iran, and North Korea." A rare public rebuke of the president from his own party, driven by midterms fuel-price politics.
• Paris goes further. Raphaël Glucksmann — who "cruised to victory in the center-left primary" for France's 2027 presidential election this weekend — told POLITICO's Paris summit that Trump is "either a useful idiot or an agent of the destruction of European strength and freedom." Of Europeans: "we are alone."
• The structural problem: the EU's ~1,600-listing expansion (Europe Hardens as Washington Loosens: Merz Calls the Diesel Deal "Out of the Question," Six GOP Senators Call It "a Gift to Our Adversary"'s core subject) now coexists with a US administration simultaneously re-admitting Russian diesel to world markets. Warsaw Security Conference allies worried Trump's midterms-driven fuel-price push would "chip away at Kyiv's hard-won momentum" (Energy Ceasefire Collapses: Ukraine Resumes Refinery Strikes, Starlink Restored — and Russian Drones Set Tankers Ablaze in Romanian Waters). The first test of whether Europe can sustain Russia pressure without Washington is the Oct 15-16 summit itself.