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The US House has rejected the anti-shutdown plan on which the Republicans had reached an agreement. The agreement was supported by Donald Trump and provided for the postponement of the debt ceiling by two years, a measure requested by the president-elect. Yesterday, a first bipartisan agreement to avoid the partial paralysis of the government starting from Saturday was rejected under pressure from Elon Musk, who inspired a second agreement signed by the Republicans judged to be 'much better'. Not enough, however, to pass to the floor for a vote. House speaker Mike Johnson is working to resolve the impasse and avoid a shutdown in a few hours.
The shutdown is the procedure which provides that without the approval of the relevant appropriations, non-essential government activities must be subjected to a “shutdown” until refinancing is approved by Congress.
An agreement had been found but Donald Trump he had rejected it. It was a bipartisan agreement in Congress that would have allocated more than $100 billion for natural disasters and farmers in the bill to avoid the shutdown, scheduled for Friday, December 20th. Suggesting that concessions to Democrats are “a betrayal of our country,” the president-elect said in a joint statement with his deputy J.D. Vance that “Republicans need to get smart and tough. If Democrats are threatening to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then their bluff needs to be called.” Before him, Elon Musk had hammered on X against the measure.
While taking this domestic slap, Trump is turning abroad. The president-elect has threatened the European Union with tariffs if its member countries don't buy more American oil and gas. “I told the European Union that it must make up for its huge deficit with the United States by purchasing our oil and gas on a large scale. Otherwise they are TARIFFS all the way!!!”, he said on the Truth social network.
The United States is the world's largest producer of crude oil and the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. LNG buyers – including the EU and Vietnam – have already talked about buying more fuel from the US, partly to deter the threat of tariffs.
