French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Europe should be ready to use its anti-coercion trade mechanism if the United States moves ahead with tariff threats tied to tensions over Greenland.
"The anti-coercion mechanism is a powerful instrument, and we should not hesitate to deploy it in today's tough environment," Macron said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He said the EU could be forced for the first time to activate the instrument designed to counter economic intimidation by third countries.
"We can be put in a situation to use the anti-coercion mechanism for the very first time, vis-à-vis the United States, if they impose additional tariffs,” he said. "Can you imagine that? This is crazy.”
US President Donald Trump said Washington would impose 10% tariffs on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland beginning Feb. 1, rising to 25% in June, until there is a deal for "the complete and total purchase of Greenland."
European leaders rejected the threat and reiterated solidarity with Denmark.
Macron also stressed that Europe should remain calm but firm, rejecting the "law of the strongest” in global economic relations.
Using tariffs as leverage against territorial sovereignty is "fundamentally unacceptable,” said Macron, adding that Europe must protect itself against "useless aggressiveness and unpredictability.”
He said U.S. trade agreements seek to "weaken and subordinate” Europe, and warned that trade wars and protectionist escalation would "only produce losers,” while calling for closer cooperation between Europe and the U.S. to address economic imbalances with China.
The anti-coercion mechanism, adopted by the EU in 2023, allows the bloc to retaliate against countries that use trade or investment restrictions to politically pressure member states.
