European leaders have warned transatlantic ties are at risk after President Donald Trump's announcement that eight countries, including France, will face tariffs of up to 25 percent if they continue to oppose the United States' bid to acquire Greenland. French President Emmanuel Macron called the threats "unacceptable".
EU countries held crisis talks on Sunday after Trump said that he would charge a 10 percent import tax from February on goods from eight European countries that are resisting American control of Greenland – France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland.
The rate would climb to 25 percent on 1 June if no deal was in place for "the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the US, he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
An emergency meeting of EU ambassadors took place in Brussels on Sunday.
Macron will ask the European Union to activate its powerful "Anti-Coercion Instrument" if the US imposes tariffs, his team said before the talks.
The bloc's weapon – dubbed its trade "bazooka" – allows the EU to impose tariffs and investment limits on countries exerting economic pressure on member states to force them to change policy. It has never been used before.
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'Dangerous downward spiral'
France is one of several countries that has deployed troops to the autonomous Danish territory in response to Washington's ambitions. Paris says the European military exercise is designed to show the world that it will defend Greenland.
"Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context," President Macron wrote in a post on X, saying that France and its European allies would present a united response.
"No intimidation or threat can influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world... We will ensure that European sovereignty is respected," Macron said.
All eight countries named by Trump issued a joint statement saying they backed Denmark and Greenland, and that their military exercise posed no danger to others.
"Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral," it said. "We will continue to stand united and coordinated in our response. We are committed to upholding our sovereignty."
In a similarly worded statement, EU leaders said the bloc "stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland".
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Day of protests
Trump's threats came as thousands of people protested in the capital of Greenland against his drive to acquire the island, rich in rare minerals and a gateway to the Arctic.
Thousands more demonstrated in Copenhagen and other Danish cities.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States needs Greenland for US "national security", while alleging without evidence that China and Russia are trying to control it.
It was not immediately clear what authority the US president would invoke to impose the threatened tariffs, nor how he would target individual EU countries when the 27 members trade as a bloc.
If carried out, Trump's threats against NATO partners would create unprecedented tension within the military alliance, already under strain.
"In this escalation of tariffs, he has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists," French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews on Sunday.
The tariff announcement even drew criticism from Trump's populist allies in France.
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, posted that the EU should suspend last year's deal to avert stiffer US tariffs on European goods, describing Trump’s threats as "commercial blackmail".
That deal, which the European Parliament had been set to ratify by next month, now faces rejection by lawmakers.
(with newswires)
