Economy
EU considers retaliatory measures over Trump Greenland tariff ‘blackmail’
Emmanuel Macron calls on fellow leaders to use powerful anti-coercion instrument if US goes ahead with tariffs
The EU was weighing up retaliatory tariffs on American goods and even deploying its most serious economic sanctions against the US as European leaders lined up to criticise Donald Trump’s threat to levy new taxes on imports from eight nations who oppose his attempt to annex Greenland – which one minister called “blackmail”.
“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” the leaders of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland said in a joint statement. “We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”
The EU’s top diplomats met for crisis talks on Sunday and discussed reviving a plan to levy tariffs on €93bn of US goods, which was suspended after last summer’s trade deal with Trump.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, called on fellow leaders to activate the EU’s powerful anti-coercion instrument – commonly known as the “big bazooka” – if Trump went ahead with his tariff threats, French media reported, citing his team.
After the talks broke up, the head of the European Council António Costa announced an emergency EU summit, which is likely to take place on Thursday. The EU, he said, showed “readiness to defend ourselves against any form of coercion”.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said Trump’s tariffs would be a mistake, and the Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel, described the US president’s threats to allies as “blackmail”, as reaction from European leaders continued to pile up.
The anti-coercion law, which has so far never been used, enables the EU to impose punitive economic measures on a country seeking to force a policy change.
Trump on Sunday doubled down on his threats against Greenland, claiming in a social media post that Nato had been telling Denmark for 20 years that it had to deal with the “Russian threat” to the territory and that it “unable to do anything about it”. He added: “Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”
According to diplomatic sources, the EU was also considering reactivating a package of counter-tariffs against €93bn US goods, which were drawn up in response to Trump’s previous economic threats but suspended after the two sides struck a trade deal last summer. The measures would impose duties on US cars, industrial goods, food and drink.
Source: TheGuardian
