• Eight EU/Nordic states issue joint communiqué backing Denmark, warn of trans-Atlantic rupture
• France pushes never-used EU “anti-coercion instrument” if U.S. levies bite
• Danish FM begins Arctic-security tour; Rutte phones Trump on Greenland situation

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (TDR) — Senior European diplomats opened emergency talks Thursday after Donald Trump threatened to impose fresh tariffs on eight EU and Nordic countries unless they drop opposition to a U.S. takeover of Greenland, prompting the bloc’s most unified push-back against Washington since the 2018 steel crisis.

Inside the Justus Lipsius building, ambassadors from the UK, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden huddled for three hours, emerging with a joint communiqué that calls the tariff threat “blackmail” and warns it risks a “dangerous downward spiral” in trans-Atlantic relations.

“We stand in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland,” the text reads. “Force, not tweets, settles borders in 2026.”

Trump’s Eight-Country Hit List

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10

White House talking points circulated Tuesday single out the eight states for 25% duties on cars, steel and dairy if they “continue to obstruct legitimate U.S. security interests in the Arctic.” The list matches exactly the signatories of Wednesday’s joint statement, suggesting Brussels coordinated the response before Washington finalised targets.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters in Oslo the global order “as we know it” is at stake:

“Either we accept that allies can be blackmailed, or we collectively show muscle. I choose muscle.”

First Phone Call: Rutte to Trump

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte revealed he spoke with Trump “regarding the security situation in Greenland and the Arctic,” but offered no details. Diplomats say Rutte warned that economic coercion against allies undermines Article 5 solidarity.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE THE DUPREE REPORT

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs London’s position on Greenland is “non-negotiable,” adding that Starmer will speak to Trump “at the earliest opportunity,” though she could not confirm a Davos meeting next week.

France Unsheaths EU “Bazooka”

President Emmanuel Macron instructed diplomats to prepare the EU’s never-used Anti-Coercion Instrument—a trade “bazooka” that allows Brussels to impose counter-measures within 60 days of a foreign economic threat. Options on the table:

• 25% duties on U.S. bourbon, Harley-Davidsons and Maine lobster;
• a 6% digital-services tax hitting Google, Amazon and Meta;
• suspension of EU-US data-transfer agreements;
• blocking U.S. firms from EU public-procurement contracts above €15 million.

Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said the Commission will activate the tool “the moment U.S. duties hit European steel or cars.”

“We will not negotiate with a gun to the head,” Šefčovič told reporters outside the Council building.

Dutch FM: “This Is Blackmail”

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel was blunter, calling the tariff threat “textbook economic blackmail” and urging Brussels to respond “within hours, not weeks.” The Netherlands—Europe’s largest importer of U.S. liquefied natural gas—has discussed temporarily rerouting LNG cargoes to Asia to signal energy leverage.

Finland: Tariffs Help No One

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo warned that EU retaliatory duties would “hurt both sides of the Atlantic” and pleaded for a negotiated solution, but backed the joint statement, noting that “small nations cannot be traded like real-estate parcels.”

Italian Dissent—Sort Of

Even Trump’s European allies pushed back. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the tariff idea “a mistake” and said she had told Trump so directly. Rome, however, stopped short of endorsing the eight-country communiqué, preferring bilateral channels.

Danish Arctic Tour

p>Foreign Minister Rasmussen begins a mini-tour of Arctic NATO capitals next week—Oslo, London and Stockholm—to “coordinate a long-term security strategy for Greenland and the wider Arctic.” Talks will cover:

• joint naval patrols in the Denmark Strait;
• expanding the Thule Air Base radar network;
• creating an EU-Arctic satellite surveillance constellation;
• joint training of Greenlandic rangers.

Copenhagen has also invited Greenland Premier Múte Egede to all stops, stressing that “Greenlandic voices must be heard in every room.”

Pence Split

Adding Republican-layer complexity, former Vice-President Mike Pence told a Heritage Foundation audience that while he supports “U.S. national-security interests in the Arctic,” threatening tariffs on allies “fractures the very alliance that keeps us safe.”

“We can’t MAGA if we blow up NATO in the process,” Pence said.

Market Tremors

During the Brussels talks, the euro slid 0.8% to $1.01, while Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk—whose insulin is on the leaked U.S. target list—fell 3.4%. U.S. bourbon futures dropped 2.1% on expectations of EU reprisals.

ECB President Christine Lagarde warned that a full EU-US trade war could shave 0.4 percentage points off euro-area GDP next year.

Calendar of Escalation

• 22 July — EU Trade Ministers emergency session (Brussels);
• 25 July — House Judiciary hearing on “Greenland and NATO Security” (Washington);
• 1 Aug — USTR Section 232 auto comment window closes;
• 15 Aug — EU counter-tariffs enter force (if no U.S. climb-down);
• 1 Sep — WTO dispute consultations requested (if duties imposed).

Will the trans-Atlantic partnership survive the Greenland gambit, or are we watching the birth of a permanent EU-US tariff war?

Freedom-Loving Beachwear by Red Beach Nation - Save 10% With Code RVM10