The European Council will hold an emergency meeting later this week to figure out how to deal with President Donald Trump’s new tariffs against eight EU countries.
According to an EU official, leaders are expected to meet in person before the weekend. The focus is on building a unified response before the tariffs take effect on February 1.
Trump announced a 10% tariff on products from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland. These are all NATO members and long-time US allies. His decision followed their refusal to send more than a few dozen troops to a joint Arctic mission in Greenland.
The eight countries involved were clear that their limited deployment was about strengthening security in the region. But Trump didn’t like the optics and hit back with tariffs.
Leaders discuss €93B retaliation and anti-coercion tool
EU ambassadors met Sunday evening in Brussels to prepare for the leaders’ meeting. One option now being considered is to go ahead with a €93 billion ($108 billion) retaliation plan. That package was already approved last year, but got paused when Trump agreed to a trade pact.
Now, that pact is on hold. EU lawmakers say they won’t move forward with it while the tariffs hang over their heads.
There’s also talk about a legal weapon called the anti-coercion instrument, which lets the EU strike back at countries using economic threats. French President Emmanuel Macron brought the idea up again during the weekend meeting. France had walked away from it before when Trump warned of more retaliation. But things have changed.
After Sunday’s ambassador meeting, European Council President Antonio Costa posted online that the bloc is still fully behind Denmark and Greenland. He said Trump’s tariffs break the EU-US trade agreement.
Public anger is growing too. Protests broke out across Denmark over the weekend, with crowds rejecting any US interference in Greenland. The pressure is mounting across Europe for a sharp response.
A German military unit sent to Greenland on Friday had already packed up and left by Sunday, according to Bild newspaper. Their entire mission lasted just 44 hours. That didn’t stop Trump from reacting. And it’s why even Republican Senator Rand Paul said on NBC’s Meet the Press, “There’s no emergency with Greenland. That’s ridiculous.”
The eight countries hit by tariffs released a joint statement Sunday. They said the Greenland mission was a necessary step to boost Arctic security and warned that Trump’s tariffs “risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government is now in “intensive dialogue” with EU allies. “It’s more important than ever for Europe to stand firm,” she said.
Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute, didn’t hold back either: “This isn’t Iran we’re talking about, it’s Denmark,” he said. “This move will anger a lot of folks.”
In the US, the response hasn’t been friendly either. Senators Thom Tillis and Jeanne Shaheen urged Trump to “turn off the threats and turn on diplomacy.”
Meanwhile, the co-chairs of the Senate NATO group warned, “Continuing down this path is bad for America, bad for American businesses and bad for America’s allies.”
