Trump’s Greenland tariffs prompt calls for unprecedented EU countermeasures

BRUSSELS – The European Union faced calls on Jan 18 to implement a never-before-used range of economic countermeasures known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” as part of the bloc’s response to US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against European allies over Greenland.

Mr Trump on Jan 17 vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark’s vast Arctic island.

The eight European nations in a joint statement on Jan 18 said they stood in solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland following Mr Trump’s threat to annex the Arctic island.

“As members of NATO, we are committed to strengthening Arctic security as a shared transatlantic interest,” the countries said in the statement.

“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”

All the countries, already subject to tariffs of 10 per cent and 15 per cent, have sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland.

Cyprus, holder of the rotating six-month EU presidency, summoned ambassadors to an emergency meeting in Brussels on Jan 18.

Coordinated European response

A source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said the leader was working to coordinate a European response and was pushing for activation of the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could limit access to public tenders in the bloc or restrict trade in services in which the US has a surplus with the EU.

However, some EU diplomats said now was not the time to escalate the situation.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, closer to Mr Trump than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Jan 18 as “a mistake” and told a briefing during a trip to South Korea that she had spoken to Mr Trump a few hours earlier and told him what she thought. 

She planned to call other European leaders later on Jan 18. Italy has not sent troops to Greenland.

Greenland ‘non-negotiable’, says Britain

Asked on Jan 18 about how Britain would respond to new tariffs, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said allies needed to work with the US to resolve the dispute.

“Our position on Greenland is non-negotiable... It is in our collective interest to work together and not to start a war of words,” she told Sky News.

The tariff threats do, though, call into question trade deals the US struck with Britain in May and with the EU in July.

The limited agreements have already faced criticism about their lopsided nature, with the US maintaining broad tariffs, while their partners are required to remove import duties.

The European Parliament looks likely now to suspend its work on the EU-US trade deal struck in July. The assembly had been due to vote on removing many EU import duties on Jan 26 and Jan 27, but Mr Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, the largest group in the Parliament, said in a post on social media platform X late on Jan 17 that approval was not possible for now. 

Mr Trump’s threat came just as the EU was signing its largest-ever free trade agreement, with South American bloc Mercosur, in Paraguay. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the agreement sent a very strong signal to the rest of the world.

“We choose fair trade over tariffs. We choose a productive, long-term partnership over isolation,” she said. REUTERS