The market is not afraid of Trump's "last ultimatum" threat, and natural gas prices in Europe have slightly decreased.

Noticeably, due to traders digesting the threat from US President Trump that he would impose economic sanctions on Russia if they could not reach a peace agreement with Ukraine, European natural gas prices have fallen slightly. As of the time of writing, the European natural gas benchmark Dutch front-month futures price fell by 1.1%, to 35.07 euros per megawatt-hour. Previously, Trump threatened that if Russia could not reach an agreement to end hostile actions within 50 days, he would impose around 100% "high tariffs" on Russia. Subsequently, the benchmark natural gas futures prices hovered around 35 euros per megawatt-hour. Currently, market participants believe that Trump's pressure has not substantially hindered Russia's energy exports. White House officials stated that these punitive measures could be implemented in the form of secondary sanctions or tariffs, targeting buyers of Russian natural gas such as India and China. If implemented, global energy flows may tighten, making it more difficult for Europe to establish sufficient natural gas reserves before the arrival of winter. The 50-day deadline is expected to help alleviate more urgent supply issues. Last week, liquefied natural gas imports decreased. This winter, European fuel stocks have declined to their lowest level in three years, and traders are closely monitoring Europe's stocking activities. Due to the high temperatures in Asia stimulating local demand for liquefied natural gas, natural gas prices have risen in recent days, potentially exacerbating global competition for this crucial fuel. Although the volume of liquefied natural gas imports in the main markets in Northwestern Europe is still higher than last year, the import volume decreased last week. In contrast, the weekly procurement volume in China and Taiwan Province of China increased slightly.