- EU emergency summit is planned in Brussels on Thursday.
- Envoys press diplomacy as they prepare retaliatory measures.
- Growing calls to trigger unused EU anti-coercion instrument.
EU ambassadors reached broad agreement on Sunday to step up efforts to dissuade US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs on European allies, while preparing retaliatory measures if the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said.
Trump promised on Saturday to implement a wave of rising tariffs from February 1 on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway, until the US is allowed to buy Greenland, a move major EU states have dismissed as blackmail.
EU leaders are to discuss the options at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($107.7 billion) of U.S. imports that could take effect automatically on Feb. 6 after a six-month suspension.
The second is the never-before-used “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI), which can limit access to public procurement, investment or banking activities, or limit trade in services where the US has a surplus with the bloc, including in digital services.
The tariff package appeared to have wider support as a first response than anti-coercive measures, with the picture currently “very mixed”, according to an EU source.
Dialogue in Davos
European Council President Antonio Costa, who chairs EU summits, said in a post on social media that his consultations with EU members had shown their strong commitment to support Denmark and Greenland and readiness to defend themselves against any form of coercion.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who visited his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo, said Denmark will continue to focus on diplomacy, citing an agreement reached by Denmark, Greenland and the United States on Wednesday to set up a working group.
“The United States is also more than the American president. I have just been there. There are also checks and balances in American society,” he added.
The EU’s push for dialogue is likely to be a central theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Trump is due to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday in his first appearance at the event in six years.
“All options on the table, talks in Davos with the US and leaders coming together after that,” an EU diplomat said in a summary of the EU’s plan.
The eight countries that are already subject to US tariffs of 10% and 15% have sent a small number of military personnel to Greenland, as a fight with the US over the future of Denmark’s large Arctic island escalates.
“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” they said in a joint statement released on Sunday, adding that they were ready to engage in dialogue based on principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a written statement that she was encouraged by the consistent reports from the rest of the continent, adding: “Europe will not be blackmailed”.
The threat of tariffs unsettled global markets, with the euro and pound falling against the dollar and a return to volatility expected.
Question marks over US trade deals
A source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said he was pushing for the activation of the ACI. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that while there should be no doubt the EU would retaliate, it was “a bit premature” to activate the as-yet-unused instrument.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is closer to the US president than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Sunday as “a mistake”, adding that she had spoken to Trump a few hours earlier and told him what she thought.
Asked how Britain would respond to new tariffs, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said allies needed to work with the US to resolve the dispute.
“Our position on Greenland is not negotiable … It is in our collective interest to work together and not start a war of words,” she told Sky News on Sunday.
However, the tariff threats call into question the trade agreements that the US concluded with the UK in May and the EU in July.
The limited deals have already faced criticism for their lopsided nature, with the US maintaining broad tariffs while its partners are committed to removing import tariffs.
The European Parliament looks set to suspend its work on the EU-US trade deal. There had been a vote to remove many EU import taxes on 26-27. January, but Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, the largest group in parliament, said late Saturday that approval was not possible for now.
German Christian Democrat lawmaker Juergen Hardt also floated what he told Bild newspaper could be a last resort “to bring President Trump to his senses on the Greenland issue,” a boycott of this year’s U.S.-hosted soccer World Cup.
