European leaders on Sunday hit back at US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs over opposition to his plans for Greenland, with far-right Italian leader Giorgio Meloni urging Washington not to make “mistakes”.
Since returning to the White House for a second term, Trump has made no secret of his desire to seize the vast Arctic island, a self-governing territory of Denmark, and the escalation of such claims in recent weeks has deeply shaken transatlantic relations.
On Saturday, he upped the ante again, threatening to impose tariffs on eight European countries for sending dozens of troops to Greenland as part of military exercises.
Meloni, who has a good relationship with Trump, said she had told him that punishing Europe economically would be a “mistake.”
“I think imposing new sanctions today would be a mistake,” she told reporters during her trip to Seoul, adding “I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I thought.”
However, Meloni also tried to downplay the conflict, telling reporters that there were “problems of understanding and communication” between Europe and the United States on Greenland.
She said NATO had a responsibility to play an active role in the growing crisis.
British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was planning to discuss the situation with Trump “at the earliest opportunity” and called the president’s tariff threats “wrong.”
“We think it’s unhelpful and counterproductive, and the Prime Minister has not shied away from making that clear,” she said.
At the same time, French President Macron called on the EU to respond to the threat of tariffs by deploying strong “anti-coercion tools.”
– Take out the “Bazooka”? –
The weapon, which has never been used before and has been dubbed an EU trade “bazooka”, can restrict the import of goods and services.
Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on all goods shipped to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland starting February 1.
The US president said the tax would increase to 25% on June 1 “until an agreement is reached to fully purchase Greenland”.
The EU agreed in July to impose 15% U.S. tariffs on most EU exports and convened a special meeting of ambassadors in Brussels on Sunday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa warned on Saturday that tariffs would “undermine the transatlantic relationship and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
-“blackmail”-
Thousands of people protested in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, Copenhagen and other Danish cities on Saturday against the prospect of U.S. annexation.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lok Rasmussen announced on Sunday that he will visit NATO members Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden in the coming days to discuss the alliance’s Arctic security policy.
French Agriculture Minister Anne Geneva warned that tariffs would also hurt Washington.
“(Trump) and his own farmers and industrialists will also suffer a lot from this tariff escalation,” she told Europe 1 and CNews broadcasters.
Meanwhile, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel called Trump’s threats a “baffling” form of “blackmail.”
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