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France’s finance minister has warned his US counterpart Scott Bessant that any move to seize Greenland would amount to “crossing the line”, putting Europe’s economic ties with Washington at risk.
Roland Lescure told the FT he had delivered a similar message to the US Treasury secretary in Washington on Monday, underscoring deep European unease over President Donald Trump’s claims over the Arctic region, part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
“Greenland is a sovereign part of a sovereign country that is part of the European Union. It should not be messed with,” Lescure said.
Despite disputes with the Trump administration over everything from Greenland to tariffs and technology regulation, Lescure argued that Europe still needs to work with the US on shared priorities, such as the French-led initiative at the G7 to reduce dependence on China for rare earth materials.
“When we disagree, it is always better to stay connected and that is what we are doing. The dialogue must continue until the lines that should not be crossed are crossed,” he said, adding that the US and France have been close allies for 250 years.
Asked whether the EU should retaliate with economic sanctions if Trump invades Greenland, Lescure said: “I’m not going to go there. I mean, obviously, if that happened we would certainly be in a completely new world, and we would have to adapt accordingly.”
The EU and the US have by far the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world, with total trade in goods and services to exceed €1.6tn in 2024, according to EU data. America is the largest export market of this group.
Trump has alarmed Europe in recent weeks by repeatedly insisting that the US would somehow “own” Greenland, arguing that it was a national security issue.
For Lescure, Trump’s designs on Greenland are the latest example of how difficult it has become to deal with the US because of what he called “contradictions” in how it is behaving – sometimes as an ally and sometimes as an unpredictable rival.
Another flashpoint has been EU regulation of US tech giants. Lescure said Bessant had told him that US companies “don’t like fines”, an apparent reference to the bloc’s imposition of financial penalties on tech groups such as the €120mn imposed on Elon Musk’s Ax in December.
“I told them we will enforce European law on any company doing business in Europe,” he said.
Lescure said discussions with Bessant and other G7 finance ministers in Washington this week showed a willingness to work on diversifying rare earth supply chains to reduce dependence on China. France aims to bring forward proposals in time for the G7 meeting in Evian in June, which could include price levels and purchasing agreements.
“We need to move quickly on all these topics because China is not waiting and the United States is not waiting,” he said. “Europe must assert its power” as a major market and economic power.
But as it pushes for a more aggressive foreign policy, France faces a huge deficit and political gridlock over its 2026 budget.
Without a majority in parliament, President Emmanuel Macron’s successive prime ministers – four in 18 months – cannot pass budgets, so he has been forced to make concessions to the opposition, particularly the centre-left Socialists.
Lescure promised there would be a budget “very soon” and said negotiations were continuing. But the Prime Minister later indicated that the talks were proving inconclusive and said he would soon resort to constitutional maneuvers to remove the MPs from office.
Such a move would increase the chances of the government being toppled in a no-confidence vote.
The government aims to reduce France’s deficit from 5.4 percent in 2025 to 5 percent of GDP in 2026.
Parliamentary paralysis has strengthened the far-right Resemble National, whose leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella are well ahead of rivals ahead of a 2027 presidential race to succeed Macron.
Lescure argued that finding a budget deal quickly would help blunt the advance of the far right by showing that mainstream parties can overcome differences. “I think it’s going to be a minus for RNs, not a plus,” Lescure said.
Lescure said of the RN, “They are trying to show themselves as business-friendly, but they vote in parliament on taxes that are completely inefficient, business-friendly and unconstitutional.” RN, which he described as “incompetent” on the economy.
People who were contacted said Bardella had recently been busy wooing business leaders, and that the RN was still looking to recruit advisers among investors and businessmen in France.
As part of the budget fight, the government has opted to undo some of Macron’s core economic reforms, such as raising the retirement age. It also plans to increase a lump sum tax imposed last year on big companies, angering business leaders who were once Macron’s supporters.
Defending the taxes, Lescure said: “Political stability has a price. It shouldn’t be done at any cost, but it has a price. And it has a business price.”
