EU Council President António Costa will convene a special summit after US President Donald Trump’s new tariff threats in the Greenland dispute. According to an EU official, Thursday is a possible date for a meeting of European heads of state and government. but so far the only thing that is certain is that there should be a physical meeting at the end of the week.
Costa said his consultations with member states on recent tensions over Greenland had highlighted a common assessment that tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and were incompatible with the EU-US trade deal.
One is prepared to defend oneself against any form of coercion.Simultaneously occurring, they want to continue to work constructively with the USA. There is a common transatlantic interest in peace and security in the Arctic, notably through cooperation within NATO.
“Trade Bazooka” would be a possible option
According to one Report from “spiegel” The European Union is considering extensive retaliatory measures against the USA. Punitive tariffs of 93 billion euros or restrictions for US companies on the European market are planned.
According to an insider, the EU ambassadors had not yet agreed on Sunday evening to impose new counter tariffs on the USA. If there is no agreement with the USA in the latest round of the customs dispute over Greenland, the counter-punitive tariffs with a volume of 93 billion euros for US bourbon, aircraft parts, soybeans and poultry, which were already designated in July, would automatically come into force on February 6th, an EU diplomat told Reuters.
The European-level discussions on how to respond to the US President’s open attempt at blackmail will also likely include the activation of an EU instrument to ward off economic coercion - this is also known as a “trade bazooka”. French President Emmanuel Macron will request to use the so-called Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), according to those close to the president.
The law allows the EU to take countermeasures when economic pressure is used to force political decisions. This would allow retaliatory tariffs on imports of US goods. One option is to decide on the retaliatory measures planned last year during the customs conflict. The plan at the time was to impose retaliatory tariffs on US imports worth around 93 billion euros.
