EU Gears Up to Respond to Trump Tariff Threats
EU member states demonstrated overwhelming solidarity with Denmark and Greenland during a crisis summit of ambassadors Sunday, yet deliberately withheld immediate deployment of the bloc's Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) – a mechanism some call the "trade bazooka."
The alliance stands prepared to resurrect a suspended €93 billion ($108 billion) retaliatory tariff package targeting US goods should Trump implement threatened duties, a source briefed on the discussions revealed to media.
Tensions exploded Saturday when Trump unveiled a 10% tariff commencing February 1 on imports from eight European NATO members – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Finland – punishing their opposition to his Greenland acquisition ambitions. He threatened escalation to 25% by June 1 absent a settlement.
The EU's planned counterstrike operates on dual tracks. Most immediately available is the €93 billion retaliation package, developed last year following Trump's initial tariff offensive, then suspended after a provisional US-EU trade agreement materialized last summer.
An EU diplomat informed media the package could "automatically come back into force on February 6" without resolution.
More dramatically, leadership is seriously weighing unprecedented activation of the ACI. Ratified in 2023, this instrument empowers the bloc to counter economic coercion through measures including market access restrictions, investment barriers, and intellectual property limitations. It was specifically crafted to combat hostile economic adversaries.
French President Emmanuel Macron explicitly demanded its deployment after condemning Trump's demands as intolerable. "He will ask, in the name of France, [for] the activation of the Anti-Coercion Instrument," his office announced Sunday, media reported.
European Council President Antonio Costa has scheduled an emergency summit of EU leaders for Thursday, January 22, to forge unified strategy. The bloc is "ready to defend itself against any form of coercion," Costa declared.
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