PJ Media

I could be wrong, but I remember reading that those tankers would be manufactured or at least assembled in the States, which sort of negates the whole leverage argument. Besides, I dont believe for a second that either France or Germany would be willing to sacrifice that much money to make a political statement.
The other half of the reason that is not stated in the article is that Boeing (the only US based company that could handle such a deal. And how much of their shares are owned by who knows whom?) tried to scam the American taxpayer with the tanker lease deal. Giving them this contract would be the equivalent of saying “Its ok to scam us, just don’t get caught”