European capitals are weighing their most forceful response in decades to pressure from Washington, as tensions over Greenland spill into trade and security policy.
According to the Financial Times, EU officials are preparing a retaliation package that could include tariffs on up to €93 billion of US goods or limits on American companies’ access to the single market, should President Donald Trump follow through on threats against Nato allies .
The measures are intended less as an opening salvo than as leverage. European leaders hope the prospect of retaliation will steady talks with Trump at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos and avert a rupture in Nato that officials privately describe as a direct threat to Europe’s security.
A tariff list agreed last year but suspended to avoid escalation is now back on the table, alongside the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, a powerful but untested tool that could curb US investment or services, including those of big technology groups.
France is pushing hardest for a robust response, while Germany is coordinating closely with Paris. Other member states favour dialogue first, wary of tipping a security crisis into a trade war.
Even so, the European parliament has already delayed a vote that would have lowered tariffs on US goods, signalling a shift in mood.
Trump’s demand that Denmark cede control of Greenland, backed by threats of new tariffs, has hardened European resolve. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would stand firm on Danish sovereignty, while EU leaders prepare an emergency summit to coordinate next steps .