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EU explores €93B Trump tariff retaliation over Greenland threats

BRUSSELS — The EU is considering far-reaching trade measures — including €93 billion worth of tariffs against the U.S. — to deter Donald Trump from trying to wrest control of Greenland, according to eight diplomats and officials.

During a three-hour meeting in Brussels on Sunday, diplomats from the bloc’s 27 governments underscored the importance of readying tangible options to fight back against Trump in case talks with Washington over the coming week don’t lead to a swift resolution, the officials said.

The talks were hastily arranged after the U.S. president threatened 10 percent tariffs from Feb. 1, rising to 25 percent on June 1, on six EU countries plus the U.K. and Norway, which he considers to be standing in the way of his designs on the Artic territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. As the sense of crisis grows, European Council President António Costa said he would call a summit of EU leaders this week.

“It’s clear that a line has been drawn and enough is enough,” said one diplomat with knowledge of Sunday’s talks. “But at the moment we are discussing options — if Trump’s tariffs are imposed, then then we will be discussing not what options there are but which options to use.”

The €93 billion in retaliatory tariffs would be a reactivation of measures that the EU put on hold after the signing of a trade deal with the U.S. in July. Such a move could be taken “very quickly,” compared to some of the other options being discussed, according to a second EU diplomat briefed on the talks.

An alternative would be to use the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), the EU’s “trade bazooka,” designed to penalize countries that use their markets as a tool for geopolitical blackmail, several officials said. This is a stronger measure and would come up against some concern from more cautious members of the bloc. Governments did not ask the European Commission to move forward with the deployment of the tool at this stage, according to three diplomats.

Before Sunday’s discussions, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Brussels to activate the ACI, which includes restrictions on foreign direct investment and intellectual property protections. Two diplomats said France’s envoy raised the prospect in the room.

Macron’s office said in a statement issued while the ambassadors were meeting that the president had spoken with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte, and reaffirmed the importance of a “firm, united, and coordinated European response through the activation of the anti-coercion instrument should the United States carry out its tariff threat.”

“There are many ways forward,” said an EU diplomat. “There are other diplomatic and economic possibilities to act. Some can be spoken about publicly, others can’t.”

Regardless of which option the EU ultimately chooses, all of the envoys said capitals intended to take their time before deciding on a course of action.

“There’s a feeling in Europe that we have to react, that is clear,” said one of the diplomats briefed on the talks. “But also we shouldn’t feel pressure to end up in this tit-for-tat where they say something, we respond, then they respond … we may need two to three days to discuss this to figure out the next stage.”

European leaders will meet Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this week. The U.S. president is expected to attend on Wednesday, before the 27 leaders work out their response at the EU summit, which will probably be scheduled for Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the planning.

The European Parliament on Saturday signaled it wants to freeze the U.S.-EU trade deal, which sets U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU at 15 percent in exchange for the bloc not applying levies on American exports.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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