Meta says ‘self-defeating’ for EU to hit US tech firms over Greenland

DAVOS, Switzerland – A top Meta executive warned on Jan 21 it would not be in Europe’s interest to hit back at

US President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs

on countries opposing a US takeover of Greenland by targeting the tech industry.

“I think tech would be a particularly self-defeating place for Europe to retaliate,” Mr Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer at Facebook’s owner Meta, said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Mr Trump was expected to push his bid to take control of the Danish autonomous territory.

Mr Kaplan’s remarks to a small group of reporters, including AFP, came as Europe is

pondering how to respond

Mr Trump’s latest tariffs threat – or to any US attempt to take Greenland by force.

Targeting US tech firms – which have a dominant position in Europe’s market for smartphones, IT operating systems, social media and lucrative cloud services – is one idea under discussion because of the huge importance of the sector for the US economy.

But Mr Kaplan said that such a move would hurt countless businesses and consumer in Europe.

“Our services are relied on by millions of small businesses to reach customers and grow their businesses and create jobs in Europe,” he said.

Such a move would lead to “a further retaliatory spiral, which will be bad for everybody”.

Mr Kaplan acknowledged that “the European governments are going to have to make their decisions as to what they think is in the best interests of the European people and European economy”.

However, he said he expected them to “conclude that access to these technologies that improve people’s lives and that people and businesses value, will be important, will continue to be important to them”.

Also on Jan 21, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Europeans to avoid “reflexive anger” and sit down with Mr Trump in Davos to hear his arguments about acquiring Greenland.

European officials have meanwhile begun to explore the possibility of launching the

EU’s so-called “anti-coercion” mechanism

, the bloc’s most powerful trade weapon, sometimes dubbed the “nuclear option” or “bazooka”.

This could involve tariffs on US goods, curbs on the export of strategic goods and the exclusion of US firms from tenders in Europe. AFP