European countries targeted by Donald Trump’s tariffs have warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” after the US president ramped up efforts to annex Greenland.
Mr Trump threatened several European countries and the UK with 10 per cent tariffs on all goods exported to the US until a deal is reached for the US to purchase Greenland.
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Britain issued a joint statement on Sunday, in which they declared: “Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”
The European Union is now preparing to land the US with hefty retaliatory tariffs worth €93bn ($107.71bn), according to the Financial Times. The bloc is also considering restricting US companies from its market.
In the joint statement, the eight countries made clear their “full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland”.
Announcing the measures on Truth Social on Saturday, Mr Trump said the tariffs would increase to 25 per cent on June 1, and warned “world peace” is at stake if the US is not permitted to control the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Brussels hopes the retaliatory measures, which were discussed during a meeting of EU ambassadors on Sunday, will provide European leaders leverage in pivotal meetings with Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
The decision came following a meeting of the EU ambassadors of 27 countries in Brussels on Sunday afternoon, in which they agreed to continue efforts to dissuade Trump from imposing the tariffs – but also to prepare retaliatory measures if the measures were implemented.
The 93 billion euro tariff package of US imports was suspended for six months in early August, as Europe looked to avoid an all-out trade war amid trade talks between Washington and Brussels.
“We will always protect our strategic economic and security interests,” EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X. “We will face these challenges to our European solidarity with steadiness and resolve.”
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer held a phone call with Trump on Sunday, in which he told the US president that “applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is wrong”, Downing Street said.
The prime minister on Saturday branded Trump’s decision as “completely wrong” and said he would pursue discussions “directly” with the US administration.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, who has a warm relationship with the US president, said he had spoken with Mr Trump about the security situation in Greenland and the Arctic.
“We will continue working on this, and I look forward to seeing him in Davos later this week,” Mr Rutte wrote on the social media platform X.
