Push for unprecedented countermove to Trump tariffs
The European Union is facing calls to activate never-before-used economic counter-measures known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” as US President Donald Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland.
Source: Sky News, UK
Trump vowed on Saturday (US time) to impose a wave of increasing tariffs on EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway.
He said they would stay until the US was allowed to buy Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark’s vast Arctic island.
All the countries, which are already subject to tariffs of 10 per cent and 15 per cent, have sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland.
Cyprus, holder of the rotating six-month EU presidency, summoned ambassadors to an emergency meeting in Brussels on Sunday. EU diplomats said it was due to start at 5pm local time (3am AEDT).
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Trump by phone on Sunday, local time, Sky News quoted Downing Street as saying.
Starmer said applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies was wrong.
“He said that security in the High North is a priority for all NATO allies in order to protect Euro-Atlantic interests,” Downing Street said.
A source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said he was working to coordinate a European response and was pushing for activation of the Anti-Coercion Instrument.
The unprecedented move could limit access to public tenders in the bloc or restrict trade in services in which the US has a surplus with the EU.
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In social media posts late on Saturday, Bernd Lange, the German Social Democrat who chairs the European Parliament’s trade committee, and Valerie Hayer, head of the centrist Renew Europe group, echoed his call, as did Germany’s engineering association on Sunday.
However, some EU diplomats said the time wasn’t right to escalate the situation.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is closer to Trump than some other EU leaders, described the tariff threat on Sunday as “a mistake” and said while on a trip to Korea that she had earlier spoken to Trump and told him what she thought.
She planned to call other European leaders later on Sunday. Italy has not sent troops to Greenland.
Asked on Sunday about 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 non-negotiable … It is in our collective interest to work together and not to start a war of words,” she told Sky News.
The tariff threats do, however, call into question trade deals the US struck with Britain last May and the EU last July.
The limited agreements have already faced criticism about their lopsided nature, with the US maintaining broad tariffs, while their partners are required to remove import duties.
The European Parliament looks likely to suspend its work on the EU-US trade deal struck seven months ago.
The assembly had been due to vote on January 26-27 on removing many EU import duties. Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, the largest group in parliament, said in a post on X late on Saturday that approval was not possible for now.
Trump’s threat came just as the EU was signing its largest free trade agreement, with South American bloc Mercosur, in Paraguay. Von der Leyen said that the agreement sent a strong signal to the rest of the world.
“We choose fair trade over tariffs. We choose a productive, long-term partnership over isolation,” she said.
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Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ caution
Reaction is also coming from governments to Trump’s invitation to join his “Board of Peace”.
The initiative is aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations.
Only Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations. They have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats.
Other governments appeared reluctant to make public statements, leaving officials to express concerns anonymously about the impact on the work of the UN.
The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict. It would then expand to deal with other conflicts, according to a copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.
Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they pay $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) each to fund the board’s activities and earn permanent membership, the letter states.
“This simply offers permanent membership to partner countries who demonstrate deep commitment to peace, security, and prosperity,” the White House said in a post on X.
Meloni said Italy was “ready to do our part”, although it was not clear whether she was specifically referring to Gaza or the broader peace.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday he had agreed to Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza in principle, although details were still being worked out.
The UN Security Council authorised a mandate for a Board of Peace in November, but only until 2027 and solely focused on the Gaza conflict. Russia and China, two veto wielding powers, abstained, complaining that the resolution did not give the UN a clear role in the future of Gaza.
The inclusion of a “charter” in the invitation letter stoked concerns among some European governments that it could undermine the work of the UN, which Trump has accused of not supporting his efforts to end conflicts around the world.
“It’s a ‘Trump United Nations’ that ignores the fundamentals of the UN charter,” said one diplomat.
Three other Western diplomats said it looked as if it would undermine the United Nations if it went ahead.
A further three diplomats and an Israeli source said that Trump wanted the Board of Peace to eventually have a broader role beyond Gaza that would oversee the other conflicts that Trump has said he has resolved.
Trump, who covets the Nobel peace prize, said in the letter that the board would convene soon.
“This board will be one of a kind, there has never been anything like it!” he wrote.
-with AAP
