Our fossil fuels have just gotten a lot more patriotic.
The Trump administration has rebranded natural gas as “free gas,” according to a Department of Energy press release on Tuesday. During the press release, Secretary of Energy Mark W. Menezes talked about exporting U.S. natural gas as “spreading freedom gas throughout the world.”
The mention of “freedom gas” was part of an announcement of an increase in exports of natural gas from a Texas facility. “Increasing export capacity from the Freeport LNG project is critical to spreading freedom gas throughout the world by giving America’s allies a diverse and affordable source of clean energy,” said Menzes in the release.
Liquified natural gas has been making headlines recently because the United States and China have been in a trade war ever since President Donald Trump raised import tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports in 2018. In response, the Chinese government raised tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods.
When it comes to liquified natural gas, China is the world’s second-biggest importer of fuel, but because of the trade wars, the country raised the tariff by 25 percent.
This is not the first time the United States has tried to renamed goods to make them sound more patriotic. In 2003, the House renamed French fries as “freedom fries” when the French government opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
By: Maytinee Kramer
