Sanctions Won’t Stop Nord Stream 2. Diplomacy Will.

Angela Merkel and Joe Biden pose for photographers prior to their trilateral talks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich on Feb. 7, 2015. CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images

Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline that would connect Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, has become a rare thing in today’s Washington: a bipartisan bête noire.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called it “a bad deal” and warned that “any entity involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline risks U.S. sanctions and should immediately abandon work on the pipeline.” Meanwhile, two leading Republican lawmakers wrote a piece in Foreign Policy urging President Joe Biden to “stop dragging his feet” and impose sanctions on “all vessels and companies currently working to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”