The European Union is determined to fight Trump’s proposed Greenland tariff
Trump has threatened to apply a wave of rising tariffs to EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, as well as Britain and Norway, until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, increasing the row over the future of Denmark’s largest Arctic island.
All countries, which are already under 10 percent and 15 percent costs, have sent small numbers of troops to Greenland.
Cyprus, which holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, summoned diplomats to an emergency meeting in Brussels on Sunday.
The EU stands as one
A source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said he is working to coordinate Europe’s response and wants to activate the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could limit access to public tenders in the bloc or limit trade in services where the US has a large trade with the EU.
On social media late Saturday, Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat who chairs the European Parliament’s trade committee, and Valerie Hayer, head of the centrist group Renew Europe, echoed his call, as did the German engineering association on Sunday.
However, some EU diplomats say now is not the time to escalate the situation.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni, who is closer to Trump than other EU leaders, described Sunday’s tariff threat as “a mistake” and told a briefing on a trip to Korea that he had spoken to Trump a few hours ago and told him what he thought.
He planned to call other European leaders later on Sunday. Italy did not send troops to Greenland.
Britain’s ‘non-negotiable’ position
Asked on Sunday about how Britain would respond to the new tariffs, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the bloc must work with the United States to resolve differences.
“Our position in Greenland is non-negotiable … It is in all our interests to work together and not start a war of words,” he told Sky News.
The tariff threats call into question the trade deals the United States struck with Britain in May and the European Union in July.
The restrictive agreements are already facing criticism for their unfair nature, with the United States maintaining broad tariffs, while partners are required to remove import duties.
The European Parliament looks set to suspend its work on the EU-US trade deal struck in July. The assembly was supposed to vote to remove most of the EU jobs on January 26-27, but Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, which is the largest party in the parliament, in a statement sent by X late Saturday that approval was not possible yet.
Trump’s threat came as the European Union signed its largest free trade agreement, with South American Mercosur, in Paraguay. Von der Leyen said the agreement sent a strong signal to the rest of the world.
“We prefer fair trade over costs. We prefer productive, long-term partnerships over isolation,” he said.
