Germany expects the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to be completed in the second half of next year despite the U.S. sanctions that prompted one of the companies involved to halt operations, according to a top official.

Switzerland’s AllSeas Group SA removed vessels that were laying the last section of the pipeline connecting Russia with Germany, which was just weeks away from completion, after U.S. President Donald Trump approved sanctions targeting the project.

AllSeas’ decision will delay the project and push up costs but the pipeline should be completed by the second half of 2020, Peter Beyer, the German government’s coordinator for trans-Atlantic issues, said Monday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

Trump’s decision was not a surprise but the sanctions are “completely incomprehensible” given the agreement between Russia and Ukraine on gas transit and “not a way to treat friends,” Beyer said. Germany “would have expected a great deal more understanding from the American friends,” he added.

Nord Stream 2 is set to ship as much as 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually directly to Germany, doubling the capacity of the existing link.

Trump has criticized Germany for not doing more to diversify imports away from Russia, while Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government argues that the $11 billion link is crucial to ensure energy security.

The pipeline’s completion would bring fresh supplies of gas to Europe’s already glutted market and make it more difficult for the U.S. to gain a bigger foothold in shipping cargoes of liquefied natural gas by tanker into Europe.

Beyer said the U.S. is trying to push its LNG on the continent and that the more expensive gas could push up prices for German consumers.