5 months ago
2
Major European Union states including Germany and France decried U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats implicit Greenland arsenic blackmail connected Sunday (January 18, 2026), arsenic France projected responding with a scope of untested economical countermeasures.
Mr. Trump vowed connected Saturday (January 17, 2026) to instrumentality a question of expanding tariffs connected EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, on with Britain and Norway, until the U.S. is allowed to bargain Greenland.
Also read: Why is the U.S. targeting Greenland? | Explained
All 8 countries, already taxable to U.S. tariffs of 10% and 15%, person sent tiny numbers of subject unit to Denmark’s immense Arctic island, arsenic a enactment with the United States implicit its aboriginal escalates.
“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and hazard a unsafe downward spiral,” they said successful a associated statement.
The Danish workout successful Greenland was designed to fortify Arctic information and posed nary menace to anyone, they said, adding that they were acceptable to prosecute successful dialogue, based connected principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said successful a connection she was pleased with the accordant messages from other states, adding: “Europe volition not beryllium blackmailed”, a presumption echoed by Germany’s Finance Minister and Sweden’s Prime Minister.
“It’s blackmail what he’s doing,” Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said connected Dutch tv of Mr. Trump’s threat.
Coordinated European response
Cyprus, holder of the rotating six-month EU presidency, summoned Ambassadors to an exigency meeting successful Brussels precocious connected Sunday (January 18, 2026) arsenic EU leaders stepped up contacts.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, visiting his Norwegian counterpart successful Oslo, said Denmark would proceed to absorption connected diplomacy, referring to an statement Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. made connected Wednesday to acceptable up a moving group.
“Even though we are present being confronted with these threats, we volition people effort to enactment connected that path,” Rasmussen said.
“The U.S. is besides much than the U.S. president. I’ve conscionable been there. There are besides checks and balances successful American society.” helium added.
Meanwhile, a root adjacent to Emmanuel Macron said the French President was pushing to activate the Anti-Coercion Instrument, which could bounds entree to nationalist tenders, investments oregon banking enactment oregon restrict commercialized successful services, successful which the U.S. has a surplus with the bloc, including integer services.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that portion determination should beryllium nary uncertainty the EU would retaliate, it was “a bit premature” to activate the instrument.
And Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is person to the U.S. President than immoderate different EU leaders, described the tariff menace connected Sunday arsenic “a mistake”, adding she had spoken to Trump a fewer hours earlier and told him what she thought.
“He seemed absorbing successful listening,” she told a briefing with reporters during a travel to Korea.
Britain’s presumption ‘non-negotiable’
British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said allies needed to enactment with the United States to resoluteness the dispute.
“Our presumption connected Greenland is non-negotiable ... It is successful our corporate involvement to enactment unneurotic and not to commencement a warfare of words,” she told Sky News.
The U.S. tariff threats telephone into question commercialized deals struck with Britain successful May and the EU successful July.
The constricted agreements person already faced disapproval astir their lopsided nature, with the U.S. maintaining wide tariffs, portion their partners are required to region import duties.
The European Parliament looks apt present to suspend its enactment connected the EU-U.S. commercialized deal. It had been owed to ballot connected removing galore EU import duties connected January 26-27, but Manfred Weber, caput of the European People’s Party, the largest radical successful parliament, said precocious connected Saturday that support was not imaginable for now.
German Christian Democrat lawmaker Juergen Hardt besides mooted what helium told Bild paper could beryllium a past edifice “to bring President Trump to his senses connected the Greenland issue”, a boycott of the shot World Cup that the U.S. is hosting this year.
