Macron threatens Trump with trade ‘bazooka’

Emmanuel Macron will urge EU leaders to launch a “trade bazooka” against Donald Trump in response to his tariffs on Greenland.

The US president has imposed a 10% tariff on exports from eight European countries including France and the UK that send troops to the Arctic islands.

Sources close to the French president said on Sunday that Macron would call his EU colleagues and ask them to activate the bloc’s “anti-coercion tools” if Trump follows through on his threats.

It will be the first time the EU has used the tool, which is designed to restrict imports of goods and services from countries trying to use trade to force the bloc to change its policies.

Eight European countries, including Britain, issued a joint statement warning Trump that his tariff threats could lead to a “dangerous downward spiral” and expressing solidarity with Denmark.

The UK, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden said: “As NATO members, we are committed to strengthening Arctic security as a common transatlantic interest.”

“The threat of tariffs undermines the transatlantic relationship and could lead to a dangerous downward spiral.”

The European Parliament also warned that it would suspend approval of the US-EU trade deal signed by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland last July.

The moves are the start of an EU effort to counter Trump’s attempts to seize part of Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark through economic coercion.

EU ambassadors will hold emergency talks in Brussels on Sunday evening to discuss the EU’s response.

The UK has yet to say how it will respond, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy telling the BBC there must be an “adult conversation” with the US.

“Typically, with this US government, the president will express very strong views. Then he will encourage dialogue,” she added of Sir Keir Starmer’s potential response.

“He welcomes dissent and we will never shy away from standing up for what we think is right, or safeguarding British interests. And what often happens is negotiation.”

Shortly after Trump threatened to impose tariffs, the Prime Minister called the move “completely wrong” and said he would “pursue the matter directly” with the US government.

His tone was much softer than that of some European counterparts, such as Macron, who insisted France would not give in to “intimidation”, and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christersen, who said “we will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed.”

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close ally of Vladimir Putin, agreed, saying the prime minister’s reaction was alarming.

Followers of the Russian president wrote on X:

The tariffs will go into effect on February 1 and could increase to 25% on June 1 if Copenhagen does not agree to a US deal to acquire the Arctic islands.

They will affect Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom.

Danish and Greenlandic officials have repeatedly argued that the territory is not for sale.

The eight European countries, all NATO allies, have sent dozens of troops to Greenland for military exercises aimed at addressing the U.S. president’s concerns about the island’s security.

But the US president responded with tariff threats, and the EU is now considering its next steps.

According to Bild, Germany withdrew 14 troops from Greenland without any announcement following Trump’s threats. The publication said it witnessed the soldiers leaving via Iceland on Sunday, 44 hours after their arrival.

The EU’s anti-coercion tools were originally developed to deter China’s illiberal trade practices.

But the tool has become the EU’s main means of hitting the United States with trade restrictions in response to Trump’s use of tariffs to force policy changes around the world.

In recent weeks, officials have subtly suggested that the U.S. president’s threat to use trade taxes to force Denmark to hand over Greenland would justify the use of “bazookas.”

That could lead the EU to target U.S. technology companies that, despite generating huge profits, pay little tax while operating on the continent.

Tax on U.S. exports

The trade deal signed between the EU and Trump last year was hailed as a geopolitical victory for Brussels, which imposed a 15% tariff on US imports from the EU in exchange for an EU commitment not to tax US exports.

But Manfred Weber, the German chairman of the centre-right European People’s Party, now says his colleagues will not vote for the deal.

“The European People’s Party supports an EU-US trade deal, but given the threats posed by Donald Trump to Greenland, approval is unlikely at this stage,” Weber said.

“Zero tariffs on American products must be suspended.”

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Bernd Lange, a German Socialist lawmaker who chairs the parliamentary trade committee, also warned that the implementation of the agreement would be suspended and advocated launching a “trade bazooka”.

Even the EU’s far-right leaders, who usually support Trump’s bullying of the EU’s pro-Brussels leaders, have begun condemning the US president.

Jordan Bardella, president of France’s national rally, said: “The threats made by Donald Trump against the sovereignty of a country, especially that of a European country, are unacceptable. Commercial extortion can no longer be tolerated.”

“We call on the EU to suspend the agreement reached last July, which we condemned at the time, and which promised our interests without adequate counterparties.”

“For years we have heard strong outrage at Putin’s violations of international law, but now these critics are eerily quiet when Trump does the very thing they criticize Putin for: violating the sovereignty of Venezuela and Greenland,” said Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany party.

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