Diplomacy or retaliation? EU mulls its options as tensions with US rise over Greenland

BRUSSELS: (Jan 19) Threats from the White House over Greenland have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Union’s anti-coercion instrument.

US President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10 per cent import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland.

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff, Trump said in a social media post while at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The rate would climb to 25 per cent on June 1 if no deal was in place for “the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland” by the United States, he said.