Europe Responds to Trump's Greenland Tariffs Threat

Main points Trump accounced on Saturday he would impose tariffs on eight European countries from the beginning of February until a deal is reached on the purchase of Greenland The European Commission is considering a package of counter tariffs EU leaders will convene an emergency summit this week to consider how to push back against Trump Key Reads Jack Power: European leaders may soon drop the don’t-upset-the-toddler approach to Trump relations Analysis: In gaining an island, the US could lose the world ‘I’ve not felt so insecure before’: Greenlanders prepare for crisis EU to ‘show restraint’ with US ‘for the moment’, says EU Commission spokesman The EU will take a “responsible” and “mature” approach, and show restraint in its relations with the US, “at least for the moment”, a spokesman for the European Commission has said. Olof Gill said “intensive discussions” are ongoing among officials after Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries until a deal is reached on the US’s acquisition of Greenland. Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s News at One, Mr Gill noted that an “extraordinary” meeting of EU leaders will be held on Thursday, during which options to respond to the threat will be considered. Asked if reaching an agreement on a response might be difficult, given that most EU member states would not be directly affected by Trump’s threatened tariffs, Mr Gill said there is currently a “striking degree of unity” among member states. “We need to stay united, we need to stay focused in order to project the necessary strengths that lead to an outcome that avoids escalation, that avoids tariffs,” he said. Mr Gill noted that tools to respond to economic threats have “always been on the table” and are “ready should we need them”, though he said the current priority is to engage and not escalate. “But in the worst-case scenario, should these threats translate into actual tariffs being imposed, we do have tools at our disposal. We are prepared to use them, and we’ll do everything we need to do to protect our legitimate economic interests,” he said. Among those tools is the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, he confirmed, though this is primarily meant to act as a “deterrent”. “Right now, there is no appetite among a majority of EU member states to deploy it. Of course, that can change,” he said, describing it as a “fluid situation”. Asked if it was time to take a “tougher response” to US president Donald Trump, Mr Gill said European leadership is characterised by a “responsible, mature” and “very sensible approach”. “That approach has great weight and value on the global stage,” he said, noting that “so many countries around the world are lining up to sign trade deals with us”, such as the controversial Mercosur trade deal. “There is value in the EU being a serious, responsible, mature actor showing restraint, and that’s the approach we’re going to have in our relations with the US, at least for the moment,” he said. Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs “do not change” Greenland’s right to self-determination. “We will not allow ourselves to be pressured. We stand firm on dialogue, on respect and on international law,” he said in a post on Facebook. He said demonstrations in Greenland and Denmark have shown a “strong and dignified unity”. Thousands of people took part in a protest in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, on Saturday. EU’s response to Trump threat will be ‘firm and responsible’ The European Union continues to engage “at all levels” ‍with the United States, while preparing its response to US president ‌Donald Trump’s new tariff threat, European Commission ⁠spokesman Olof Gill said on Monday. The ‌EU ​is ‍ready to use every tool at its disposal to protect the bloc’s ⁠economic interests, he said, ⁠adding that the ⁠possible use of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument is not ‍off the table. Although the EU’s main aim continues to be to avoid escalation, its response will “firm and responsible”, he said. “The ‌EU’s anti-coercion instrument’s ‌primary goal is to act as deterrent, just mentioning ‌the possibility of its use ⁠can have the desired effect,” he said. Emergency EU summit to be held on Thursday evening EU leaders are set to convene for an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday following Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on eight EU countries over his demand to acquire Greenland. The summit is scheduled to start at 6pm Irish time, an EU spokesperson said. On Wednesday, Mr Trump is due to travel to Switzerland where he will address the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. He is expected to meet global business figures there, sources familiar with the matter said, as the US president’s presence looms large over the annual gathering of the global elite. Business leaders, including CEOs in financial services, crypto and consulting, were invited to a reception after Trump’s address, the sources told Reuters on Monday. The agenda was unclear. The conference agenda has to some extent been overtaken by his dramatic policy moves, including his demand in recent days that the United States ‍take over Greenland. Danish officials have decided not to attend this year’s meeting amid the intensifying dispute over Greenland. “Danish government representatives were invited this year, and any decisions on attendance are a matter for the government concerned,” the Forum said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We can confirm that the Danish government will not be represented in Davos this week.”– Reuters/Bloomberg A spokesman for the European Commission has said he “can’t discount the possibility” that Mr Trump and Ursula von der Leyen may sit down together for talks in Davos, on the margins of the World Economic Forum this week. However, he said there was no meeting between the US president and the chief of the EU’s executive body in the diary at present, Europe Correspondent Jack Power reports. A lot will turn on what happens inside the room when the leaders of the European Union’s 27 states meet in Brussels on Thursday for an emergency summit, Europe Correspondent Jack Power writes. The Irish Government, who have been one of the loudest voices for EU restraint in the face of threats from Trump during his second term, might find the argument against retaliation does not land as it did during EU-US tariff negotiations last year. Dialogue doesn’t really work if one side shows no interest of talking. Taoiseach Micheál Martin will have to walk a fine line. A trade war, or worse, between Europe and the United States would be particularly devastating for the Republic, given its close trade ties with Washington, and the concentration of US multinational tech and pharma firms in the State. French president Emmanuel Macron is expected to push for the EU to hit back hard, using emergency anti-coercion powers, to put some pressure on Mr Trump. The so-called “big bazooka” would allow the European Commission to restrict US companies’ ability to operate in the EU market. Mr Martin will probably have an ally in Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who has been another opponent of any response that would further antagonise the White House. The stance taken by German chancellor Friedrich Merz will be one to watch. It is rare such an emergency gathering of EU leaders is called. There was one when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and others during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Brexit negotiations. It is safe to assume other leaders will take some guidance from Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen. Until now the Danish government had been trying to take the political heat out of the Greenland dispute, in the hopes Mr Trump could be convinced the US does not need to own the island, to shore up its security interests in the Arctic region. A middle ground option being considered would see the EU hit €93 billion worth of trade coming from the US, from soybeans to Harley-Davidson motorbikes, with retaliatory tariffs. Whether the European Union has the bottle, and political unity, required to ramp up the pressure, and absorb the possible painful US reaction that initially follows, is still an open question right now. ‘The limit has been reached’: German finance minister says European countries will not be ‘blackmailed’ by Trump European powers will not be “blackmailed” and there would be a clear and united response ‍to threats of escalated US tariffs over Greenland, the German and ​French finance ministers have said. “Germany and France agree: we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” German finance minister Lars Klingbeil ‌said at his ministry where he received his French counterpart on Monday morning. “Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” French ⁠finance minister Roland Lescure added. EU leaders are set ‌to ​discuss ‍options at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on €93 billion of US imports that could automatically kick in on February 6th after a six-month suspension. “We Europeans must make it clear: ⁠the limit has been reached,” Mr Klingbeil said. “Our hand is extended but we are not prepared to be ⁠blackmailed.” The other option is the so far ⁠never used anti-coercion instrument, which 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. Mr Lescure said although the EU’s anti-coercion instrument was above all a deterrent, it should be considered in the current circumstances. “France wants us to examine this possibility, hoping, of course, that deterrence will prevail,” he said. He added that he hoped the transatlantic relationship will return to being “friendly and based on negotiation, rather than a relationship based on threats and blackmail”. Mr Klingbeil said he was not interested in escalation, as it would come at ‌the expense of economies ‌on both sides of the Atlantic. – Reuters Use of tariffs against allies is ‘completely wrong’, says UK PM Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer has held an emergency press conference in Downing Street where he said he will try to avoid a trade war with the US, which has announced tariffs on Britain over its stance on Greenland. Our London Correspondent Mark Paul reports: “The use of tariffs against allies is completely wrong,” said Mr Starmer on Monday morning, during an address to the nation of Britain. The UK prime minister had been due to give a speech in Yorkshire on the cost of living on Monday morning, but he cancelled that to give the emergency address from Downing Street – an indication of the seriousness with which US president Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland are being taken in Britain. Mr Starmer said he spoke to Mr Trump by phone on Sunday night and told him that the future of Greenland was for the people of the Arctic territory and also the people of Denmark, which administers Greenland, to decide alone. “There is a principle here that cannot be set aside,” he said. However, the UK prime minister batted away suggestions that Britain should take “performative” retaliatory action against the US, such as cancelling the state visit later this year to the US of King Charles. “We will not indulge in gesture politics,” he said. While he did not definitively rule out levying retaliatory tariffs against the US, he said a trade war over Greenland was “in no one’s interests”. “The relationship between the US and UK matters profoundly,” he said, adding: “We are determined to keep that relationship strong and constructive and focused on results.” “Mature alliances are not about pretending differences don’t exist ... Britain is a pragmatic country, we look for agreement ... But it does not mean being passive.” Mr Starmer said the crisis over Greenland was a “moment for all of Britain to pull together”. He said that he understood why Mr Trump’s tariff threats had been “badly received across all of the UK”. But, he added, it was vital for Britain to maintain its close military and trade partnerships with the US, including over Britain’s nuclear capabilities, which is believed to need US assistance to function effectively. “Our nuclear deterrent requires us to have a good relationship with the US,” said Mr Starmer. He said he didn’t think the US president would consider military action over Greenland, and suggested he would seek to speak to him again in the coming days. “This is a moment for the whole country to pull together,” he said. It is clear the US-EU trade deal agreed last summer “will not proceed any more”, the chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee has said following Donald Trump’s “unacceptable” threat. German MEP Bernd Lange said on Monday that the fate of the deal, which was described by Department of Finance officials as being of “critical importance” to the Irish economy, will be decided on Wednesday. “We are discussing this quite intensively because there was a breaking of the deal by the United States even before this action from Trump so we were quite sceptical. “After this threat, it’s totally clear this deal will be put on ice, and we will not proceed any more. We will discuss it and decide it finally on Wednesday,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. The deal, which set US tariffs on imports from the EU at 15 per cent in exchange for Europe not applying levies on American exports, was described in Department of Finance documents published last Friday as being “of critical importance to the Irish economy”. Mr Lange said counter measures are “ready”, having been drawn up before trade negotiations with the US last year. “The list is there,” he said, adding that it could be enforced “immediately”. He said Mr Trump’s use of tariffs as a political threat on Saturday is “totally unacceptable”. Mr Lange said security is a “weakness” of the EU, adding that this was the “main reason” the trade deal was accepted in Scotland last summer. “But on the other side, we have to defend our European sovereignty,” he said, adding: “The experience in the last year is totally clear that if we are not going in a clear and offensive manner, at the end of the day, it is totally unsecure and unpredictable what is happening in the United States.” British prime minister Keir Starmer said on Monday ‍that calm discussion between allies was needed on Greenland to ‍ensure that historic alliances could endure. Mr Starmer told a press conference that ⁠Britain’s alliance with the United States had provided ‌security ​and prosperity ‍for decades, and said he was determined to maintain those ties. But he said Mr Trump’s threats to impose ⁠escalating tariffs on Britain and European allies ⁠until the US was ⁠allowed to buy Greenland was wrong. He said the future of Greenland ‍must be decided by Denmark alone. “Alliances endure because they’re built on respect and partnership, not pressure,” he said. “That is why I’ve said the use of tariffs against allies is completely wrong. It ‌is not ‌the right way to resolve differences within an alliance.” He said on Greenland: “the right ‌way to approach an issue of this seriousness is ⁠through calm discussion between allies”. He said tariffs ‌should not ⁠be used ‌against allies, ​and ‍that his focus was to ⁠ensure ⁠a “tariff war” is avoided. – Reuters Trump links Greenland threats to Nobel Peace Prize snub in letter to Norwegian PM Here is the full text of the letter sent by Donald Trump to Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr ‍Stoere: “Dear Jonas: 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, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT” The Nobel Peace Prize isn’t decided by the Norwegian government but is awarded by an independent committee. Trump’s letter, which was first reported by a PBS journalist on X, was shared by Trump’s National Security Council with several other European governments, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private correspondence. – Bloomberg Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris is attending a meeting of EU finance ministers on Monday, where the threat of fresh tariffs by the US will be discussed. In advance of the meeting, Mr Harris said an “incredible amount of work” was put into reaching an agreement with the US to protect transatlantic economic activity. He said developments which “seek to undermine” and “move away from that by the US are most concerning and very unwelcome”. “Ireland always favours agreement and dialogue. This threat of penalising European economies and businesses and linking that with Greenland is completely unacceptable and I know Europe will stand united and co-ordinated in considering how to respond,” he said. Trump told Norwegian PM he no longer feels an ‘obligation to think purely of peace’ US president Donald Trump told ‍Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr ‍Stoere he no longer felt an “obligation to think ‌purely of Peace” ⁠after the Norwegian Nobel Committee ‌did ​not ‍award him the Nobel Peace Prize, as he ⁠repeated his demand ⁠for control of ⁠Greenland in a letter seen ‍by Reuters. The Norwegian prime minister’s office did not immediately reply to a request for ‌comment. – Reuters UK prime minister Keir Starmer is due to speak at Downing Street on Monday following Donald Trump’s threats to ramp up tariffs until a deal is reached on Greenland. Mr Starmer has told the US president it is “wrong” to apply tariffs to the UK and other European allies opposing his efforts to take over Greenland. He will set out the UK’s approach to working with allies and how the country will be “led by our values”, according to a Government source. It comes as UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned the UN has “no leverage” in resolving major global conflicts compared to the “big powers”, adding the US appears to believe its own power is more important than international law. “There are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power,” Mr Guterres told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Indeed, when one sees the present policy of the United States, there is a clear conviction that multilateral solutions are not relevant and that what matters is the exercise of the power and the influence of the United States and sometimes in this respect by the norms of international law”. – PA Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has said the EU must “remain calm” in considering its response to Donald Trump’s vow to impose tariffs, saying there should be no “knee-jerk reactions”. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Monday, Ms McEntee described the US president’s vow to implement tariffs on eight European countries until a deal is reached for the US to purchase Greenland as “unprecedented”. “I think it’s important that we remain calm and that there aren’t knee-jerk reactions here. The EU has to look to see what options we have,” she said. Noting that options are due to be discussed at a meeting of EU leaders this week, Ms McEntee said: “We need to be measured here in our response”, adding that dialogue and engagement must be the first step with the US. She said the anti-coercion instrument, which would restrict access to the single market, is an “extreme measure” and “is there as a last resort”. Asked if the development was a result of Trump’s power “going unchecked”, the Minister said: “I certainly feel that this is an approach that we have never seen from the US, and certainly, there are decisions being taken and directions being taken that we have never seen before, but that doesn’t mean that we should change the response and the approach that we take. “From Ireland’s perspective, we share excellent relations with the US, and have always done so through various different administrations, but we are a member of the EU, and we will remain unified in our response,” she said. Ms McEntee reiterated that “what happens to Greenland is for the people of Greenland and for the people of Denmark”. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t go to the US, that we don’t engage,” she said, adding that “we need to be firm with our friends as well.” Asked about the annual St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House, Ms McEntee said: “The US is an excellent partner of Ireland. We have huge relations and ties, not just economically but culturally, and so many other ways. “But that does not mean where we see wrongdoing, that does not mean where we disagree, that we don’t call it out. “I think the White House has always been a perfect opportunity for our Taoiseach and for other colleagues to raise issues of concern.”