PERSPECTIVE GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ORDER THE U.S., GERMANY, AND NORD STREAM 2 Matthew Rojansky December 2020 Russia poses a strategic challen­ge for both the United States and Germany, having increa­singly resorted to the use of force against its neighbors and of so-called»active measures« against Western democracies. In response, the U.S. and Euro­pe have imposed punitive eco­nomic sanctions on Moscow. Germany and the United States differ in their approaches to Rus­sia’s energy trade with Europe, giving rise to a potential stum­bling block over Nord Stream 2, an undersea natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany that is now nearly complete. Threatened U.S. sanctions on entities involved in completion of the pipeline project have provoked strong opposition, even as opinion within Germany and Europe is divided over NS2. Both sides hope for resolution of this impasse with the arri­val of a new U.S. administra­­tion in 2021.