Europeans are scrambling to retaliate to US President Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs against countries that oppose his plans to annex Greenland.
A French-led push to strike back by potentially imposing tariffs on €93 billion ($108 billion) of US goods if Mr Trump follows through appeared to gain traction in Berlin on Monday.
Mr Trump's threats to annex Greenland is a red line for Europe, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said in a joint press conference in Berlin with French counterpart Roland Lescure.
“Limits have now been reached, and when I see the threat to Greenland’s integrity and sovereignty and to Denmark, I have noticed in negotiations that people expect us not to give in to blackmail and to take action against it,” Mr Klingbeil said.
“There is a legally established European toolbox that can respond to economic blackmail with very sensitive measures, and we should now examine the use of these measures,” added Mr Klingbeil, who is also Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s vice chancellor.
Mr Lescure said that the EU had several options on the table, including allowing a €93 billion package of retaliatory tariffs on the US to kick-in on February 6 after a six-month suspension. Another possibility is to use, for the first time, the EU's so-called anti-coercion instrument – an idea pushed over the weekend by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Impact on Europe
The mechanism could limit access to public tenders, investments or banking activity or restrict trade in services, in which the US has a surplus with the bloc, including in digital services.
The tariff package appeared to command broader support as a first response than anti-coercion measures, where the picture was currently “very mixed”, according to an EU source.
“Will this have an impact on the European economy? Obviously,” Mr Lescure said. “We regret this potential escalation and we will do everything we can to avoid it, but unfortunately it's possible we may be forced to make decisions that benefit no one.”
EU and Nato officials are expected to make their case directly to Mr Trump's advisers in Davos on Monday before EU leaders meet in Brussels for an emergency summit later in the week.
Greenlanders have voiced their opposition to an annexation by the US. Crowds gathered in protest in Nuuk over the weekend holding banners that read “Greenland is not for sale”.
EU Council president Antonio Costa said consultations between leaders had confirmed strong commitment to unity in support of Greenland and Denmark.
There was a “shared assessment that tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-US trade agreement,” Mr Costa said on X.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is closer to the US President than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Sunday as “a mistake”, adding she had spoken to Mr Trump a few hours earlier and told him what she thought.
Mr Trump on Saturday announced a 10 per cent tariff on goods from eight European countries starting February 1, rising to 25 per cent in June, unless there’s a deal for the “purchase of Greenland”.
In a letter Mr Trump sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, he linked his claims on Greenland to being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Mr Trump says in the letter. “Although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” Mr Trump added.
The Nobel Peace Prize isn’t decided by the Norwegian government, but is awarded by an independent committee.
“Regarding the Nobel Peace Prize, I have several times clearly explained to Trump what is well known, namely that it is an independent Nobel Committee, and not the Norwegian government, that awards the prize,” Mr Store said in a statement sent to Bloomberg.
