France and Germany are reportedly pushing for the European Union to invoke special trade restriction measures against the United States over President Trump’s efforts to acquire the Arctic territory of Greenland.
French President Emmanuel Macron began to lobby on Sunday for Brussels to activate the European Union’s “anti-coercion instrument” against the United States, Le Figaro reports. The move would come in response to the White House’s threatened 10 per cent tariffs against the eight EU nations that have committed to sending troops to Greenland in recent weeks. Trump has further threatened to raise the levies up to 25 per cent if the situation is not solved by June.
The ‘anti-coercion’ tool, which allows for the restriction of imports and investments, was initially developed to counter the likes of Communist China. However, it has yet to be deployed, and European leaders began to suggest using the measure against the United States during the negotiations for the EU-U.S. trade deal last year.
According to the European Commission, the use of the so-called “trade bazooka” would be justified in a situation in which “a third country seeks to pressure the European Union or an EU Member State into making a particular choice by applying, or threatening to apply, measures affecting trade or investment.”
Bloomberg reported that the bloc is considering targeting €93 billion ($108 billion) of American goods with tariffs should the U.S. follow through with its mooted tariffs.
Following a meeting in Berlin on Monday with French Economy Minsiter Roland Lescure, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said that Germany is prepared back Macron’s proposal to the “economic blackmail” of the United States.
“There is a legally established European toolbox for responding to economic blackmail with very sensitive measures. And we should now consider using these measures,” Klingbeil said per POLITICO. “We are ready to find solutions. We are extending our hand, but we are not prepared to be blackmailed.”
For his part, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “We stand united and coordinated with Denmark and the people of Greenland. As a member of NATO, we are committed to strengthening Arctic security as a shared transatlantic interest. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
It remains to be seen whether there will be appetite for hardball negotiations with President Trump across the rest of the bloc, a qualified majority of whom would need to support the move for the “bazooka” to be applied.
Nevertheless, other, less extreme forms of pushback could be on the table, including sanctioning U.S. tech firms, which censorious globalists in Brussels have been itching to attack regardless.
There have also been suggestions that the EU Parliament will refuse to ratify the trade deal agreed to last year by Brussels, which will see tariffs on U.S. goods imported to the bloc reduced to zero while raising rates on EU goods exported to America up to 15 per cent.
In contrast to the maximalist position laid out by the French and Germans, British Prime Minsiter Sir Keir Starmer took a more conciliatory approach, saying Monday that invoking reciprocal tariffs against the United States would be the “wrong thing to do”.
Following a phone call with President Trump, Mr Starmer said that he does not believe that the United States would use military action to seize control of Greenland.
“I think that this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion, but with the application of the principles and values that I’ve set out in terms of who decides the future of Greenland, and making clear that the use of tariffs in this way is completely wrong,” the UK leader said, according to The Times of London.
Despite the tough talk from Europe, there has been little in the way of reasons put forward for continued Danish control of the island, other than sovereignty assertions based on 18th-century colonialist claims or the supposed right of self-determination of the few inhabitants of the world’s largest island.
Under the 2009 Self-Government Act, Greenlanders were granted the right to call for an independence referendum from the Kingdom of Denmark, paving the way for the 57,000 people on the island to throw off Danish control and potentially partner with antagonistic powers such as Communist China or Russia.
President Trump, who has forcefully reasserted the Monroe Doctrine, which demands American hegemonic control of the Western Hemisphere, has said that allowing Chinese or Russian interference in Greenland would be unacceptable to Washington. He has also argued that Denmark has failed to properly develop the island’s resources or its strategic military presence.
Writing on his Truth Social platform on Sunday evening, President Trump said: “NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”