rtr | The European Union wants to dissuade US President Donald Trump from new tariffs, but is also preparing retaliatory measures. The EU ambassadors agreed in principle on Sunday evening to step up diplomatic efforts, EU diplomats said after the meeting. If the tariffs nevertheless come into force, the EU will react.
On Saturday, Trump threatened a wave of increasing tariffs starting February 1st. The EU members Germany, Denmark, Sweden, France, the Netherlands and Finland as well as Great Britain and Norway would be affected. The measure should apply until the USA is allowed to purchase Greenland.
“Europe will not allow itself to be blackmailed,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. The eight countries already subject to US tariffs of 10 and 15 percent had previously announced in a joint statement that they were ready for dialogue. The tariff threats undermined transatlantic relations and risked a dangerous downward spiral. On Thursday, the EU heads of state and government want to discuss the answers at a special summit in Brussels.
One option is a package of tariffs on US imports worth 93 billion euroswhich could automatically come into effect on February 6 after a six-month suspension. This package seems to be the first reaction to find broader support, it was said from EU circles.
Central topic at the World Economic Forum
The other option is the previously unused “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI). This could restrict access to public procurement, investment or banking, or restrict trade in services where the US runs a surplus with the EU. The situation here is “very mixed”.
The diplomatic effort is also expected to be a central theme at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Trump is scheduled to give a speech on Wednesday. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his country continued to rely on diplomacy. “The US is more than just the US president. I was just there. There are also checks and balances in American society.”
While French President Emmanuel Macron is committed to activating the ACI, according to an insider, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called it “a little premature” to use the instrument. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the tariff threat a “mistake” and said she had told Trump as much in a conversation a few hours earlier.
The threats also call into question the trade agreements that the US concluded with the UK in May and with the EU in July. The European Parliament is expected to suspend its work on the agreement with the US. The chairman of the EPP group, Manfred Weber, said on Saturday that ratification was currently not possible. The CDU MP Jürgen Hardt told the Bild-The newspaper is discussing a boycott of the World Cup that the USA is hosting this year as a last resort. This could “bring President Trump to his senses on the Greenland issue.”
German industry called for an unyielding stance at the weekend. “Europe must not allow itself to be blackmailed,” warned the President of the Mechanical Engineering Association VDMA, Bertram Kawlath. If the EU gives in here, it will only encourage Trump to make the next absurd demand.
The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) criticized Trump for unacceptably linking political goals with economic pressure and warned of a collapse in German exports. The European Union must act as one and not allow itself to be divided, said DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier.