U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs on eight European countries as he pushes to acquire Greenland from Denmark.
Over the weekend, Trump said that the eight European countries would face increasing tariffs, starting at 10% on Feb. 1 and rising to 25% on June 1, if a deal is not reached allowing the United States to buy Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
The new tariffs would apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom (U.K.), the Netherlands, and Finland.
Trump’s new import duties on the European countries would be applied on top of existing tariffs that currently stand at 10% for the U.K. and 15% for the other European nations.
The European countries are reportedly considering retaliatory tariffs and other economic countermeasures against the U.S. in response to Trump’s new tariff threat.
On social media, Trump said that he was imposing the new tariffs as punishment after several European nations sent military personnel to defend Greenland in recent days.
Denmark is part of the NATO military alliance, as is the U.S. Analysts say that any attack on Greenland by America would effectively end NATO.
European leaders held an emergency meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss their collective response to Trump’s threat of escalating tariffs.
The European Union is reportedly considering using its strongest economic counter-threat to the U.S., known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI).
The ACI would restrict U.S. suppliers’ access to the European market, excluding them from participation in public tenders, as well as imposing trade restrictions and limits on foreign direct investments. The ACI has not been used before.
Other media reports say that the European Union is considering imposing 93 billion euros ($108 billion U.S.) worth of new tariffs on U.S. goods and services.
At the same time, the European Parliament is now likely to suspend work on the European-U.S. trade deal reached last summer.
The parliament had been due to vote on removing many European import duties on U.S. goods and services, but that vote is now likely to be delayed.
