GERMANY - Stung by Trump’s Criticisms of Russian Gas Deal, Germany Makes Its Own Threats. Germany pushed back against pressure from President Trump over its planned Russian gas pipeline after Berlin warned it could reconsider its commitment to begin importing American gas if the US makes good on a threat to block the project. The warning, in a letter by the German ambassador to several US senators last month, came as Congress is weighing a bipartisan move to enact sanctions against the controversial German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which the US has long opposed.