Merz Urges Calm Response to Trump Trade Threats Amid Macron's Tough Stance

BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday sought to prevent the clash with Donald Trump over Greenland from escalating into a new trade war between Europe and the U.S., urging a “level-headed” response to the American president’s latest tariff threats. The approach signaled a tactical divide between the leaders of Germany and France over how to handle Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on several European countries by next month. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called on Brussels to activate the EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), the EU’s “trade bazooka,” in response to Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on European countries as soon as next month. Merz, on the other hand, urged a less confrontational approach to Trump, acknowledging that a trade war would be especially damaging to Germany’s export-oriented economy while expressing confidence Berlin and Paris would find a common position. “France is affected by the American tariffs to a different extent than we are, and in this respect I understand that the French government and the French president want to react a little more harshly than we do,” Merz said. “Nevertheless, we are trying to adopt and will manage to find a common position” before EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday. German officials have often expressed frustration that Macron has been willing to take a more combative approach to Trump, but hasn't moved as aggressively to increase Europe's autonomy from the U.S. by striking additional trade deals with other parts of the world. French opposition, for instance, has long held up Europe's deal with the Mercosur trade bloc in South America. Merz said he intended to try to meet with Trump at Davos on Wednesday to try to reduce tensions and change the president’s mind about tariffs, saying he thought a joint solution to protect Greenland and avert a trade war remained within reach. “We know from the experience of the last 12 months that Trump repeatedly threatens to impose tariffs,” said Merz. “He often does so, but often enough, talks and negotiations with him lead him to refrain from doing so. And that has been my strategy for the last nine months, or the last eight months, since I took office. And I will continue to pursue it in exactly the same way." By contrast, the French president has been far more outspoken in countering Trump’s trade threats. "No intimidation or threat will influence us," Macron said in a post on X over the weekend. “Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner should they be confirmed. We will ensure that European sovereignty is upheld. It is in this spirit that I will engage with our European partners.” Merz too did not rule out European retaliation if Trump goes ahead with tariffs, though he did not specifically mention the EU’s so-called trade bazooka. “We have a set of instruments at our disposal, and we agree that we do not want to use them,” Merz said. “But if we have to use them, then we will do so. To what extent, with what intensity? That will depend on the situation as it arises with the U.S. government.”