France’s Emmanuel Macron has called on the EU to activate its most powerful trade weapon against the US after President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on several European countries in response to the dispute over Greenland.
Trump said on Saturday that the US will impose additional 10 percent tariffs on goods from France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland from February 1, which has suddenly increased tensions between the US and its allies over Trump’s ambitions of ownership of Greenland. Trump said in the Truth Social post, if no solution is found, the tariff will increase to 25 percent in June.
His anger over Greenland signals the deepest rift between the NATO allies since the alliance was founded and has drawn angry reactions from European leaders and business executives who previously had been more measured out of fear of losing US support for Ukraine.
An Elysee official said on Sunday that the French president will request that the EU activate its so-called anti-coercion tool that could restrict access to the single market for US companies.
“He will be in contact with his European counterparts throughout the day and will request, on behalf of France, the activation of anti-coercion equipment,” an Elysee official said.
First adopted in 2023, this tool has never been used but allows the EU to respond to incidents of “economic coercion” by other countries – such as punitive tariffs – with retaliatory measures of its own.
Several other leaders and business executives echoed Macron’s sentiments, although a senior EU diplomat said many were still hesitant to activate the tool.
EU ambassadors are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday afternoon to discuss next steps.
Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said Trump’s latest move had “crossed a line”, adding that the eight affected countries “should not allow themselves to be blackmailed”.
“There will be a European reaction to this threat and yesterday’s announcement,” he said.
“I’m really upset about it, and I think it’s unacceptable to attack countries that are now taking greater responsibility for our common security in NATO,” said Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, who will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the tariff move was “surprising” as he had had “constructive talks” with Vice President J.D. Vance earlier on Wednesday. He added: “It’s paradoxical because what forces the president to respond is that we are doing exactly what we are criticized for not doing: namely taking care of the Arctic. That makes it difficult to get control of it.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who is known to have a good personal relationship with Trump, said “tariffs would weaken transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous deterioration”.
Swedish and Norwegian premiers Ulf Christerson and Jonas Gahr Storey also warned that Europe “will not allow itself to be blackmailed”.
The bloc has not yet ratified the trade deal it agreed with the United States last summer, in which tariffs will remain at 15 percent. Lawmakers in the European Parliament said Saturday they would delay approval because of the Greenland threat.
EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told German news outlet DW on Sunday that implementation of the US-EU agreement would be “very complicated” in the wake of Trump’s threats.
Bertram Kavalath, president of the German machine manufacturers’ organization VDMA, said Europe should not “let itself be blackmailed – not even by the United States”, adding that the European Parliament “cannot possibly” move forward with approving a US-EU trade deal while Washington is putting pressure on it with new punitive tariffs.
He also called on Brussels to consider the use of anti-coercion mechanisms, despite the machine-parts industry already suffering heavily from tariffs.
Hildegard Müller, chair of the German carmaker lobby VDA, said the cost of the additional tariffs would be “huge for German and European industry – in already challenging times”.
He called for a “smart, strategic response from Brussels”, adding: “Rash decisions escalate tensions and lead to a potential spiral that only produces losers.”
Harald Solberg, head of the Federation of Norwegian Industries, said of Trump’s threats, “It’s almost unbelievable. In my opinion, it appears to be completely preposterous.”
Rising tensions in transatlantic ties have increased pressure on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has cultivated close ties with Trump and served as a conduit for the faction to broker a deal with the White House.
Speaking to reporters in Seoul, Meloni said he had spoken to Trump as well as Root on Sunday morning to try to ease tensions between the US and Europe over Greenland.
The Italian Prime Minister said, “Imposing increased tariffs on countries that had decided to contribute to the protection of Greenland is, in my opinion, a mistake.” “I think it is very important to talk to each other at this stage and avoid escalating tensions.”
Italy would not be directly affected by the additional tariffs as it had not joined the military mission to Greenland to strengthen the Arctic island’s defences.
But the Italian economy will suffer from tariffs on Germany, one of its largest trading partners, to which it sends many intermediate goods used in German exports.
Maloney said the White House may have misunderstood a recent trip to Greenland by defense personnel from some European countries — and did not realize it was not against the US but against potentially hostile maneuvers by powers such as Russia and China.
Meloni said, “I feel like it may be a problem of understanding and communication, which is why I continue to emphasize NATO’s role as a forum in which we should try to organize deterrent tools.”
Trump’s threats did not include just one country sending military personnel. Belgium was not targeted, although it would send a military officer to Greenland.
“If NATO members decide on an operation in Greenland, it is precisely to demonstrate that we are all concerned about Arctic security,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot wrote on X.
Additional reporting by Laura Pittel in Berlin and Henri Foy and Laura Dubois in Brussels
