EU considers US$108 billion in retaliatory tariffs on US over Trump’s Greenland threat
‘Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,’ the countries said in a joint statement
European capitals may hit the US with €93 billion ($108 billion) worth of tariffs or restrict American companies from the bloc’s market in response to US President Donald Trump’s threats to Nato allies opposed to his campaign to take over Greenland, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The retaliation measures are being drawn up to give European leaders leverage in pivotal meetings with Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, the Financial Times report said, citing officials involved in the preparations for the meetings in Switzerland.
Trump vowed on Saturday to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
All eight countries, already subject to US tariffs of 10 per cent and 15 per cent, have sent small numbers of military staff to Denmark’s vast Arctic island, as a row with the United States over its future escalates.
“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they said in a joint statement.
The Danish exercise in Greenland was designed to strengthen Arctic security and posed no threat to anyone, they said, adding that they were ready to engage in dialogue, based on principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.