New year, same tariff turmoil.
President Donald Trump over the weekend said he would impose a 10% tariff on several countries in the European Union beginning February 1 to build leverage toward his goal of the United States purchasing Greenland.
Trump said he would impose the tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland, and increase the rate to 25% beginning June 1, according to his post Saturday on Truth Social. The tariffs will remain until “a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said.
He added that despite the new tariffs, the U.S. is “immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades.”
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EU President Urusula von der Leyen posted a joint statement with EU Council President António Costa on X that EU leaders would stand united in response to Trump’s latest tariff threats, which they said risk devolving the relationship between the U.S. and EU nations. “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” the statement said. “Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.”
- This latest threat comes on the heels of Trump vowing that any country with economic ties to Iran could face a 25% tariff on goods exported to the U.S.
No executive order authorizing the tariffs has been issued yet, but any such tariff would likely be enacted under the same International Emergency Economic Powers Act that Trump has used for similar levies. The president’s authority to do so has been challenged, however, with a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court expected soon.
- Trump has posted that a decision striking down the IEEPA tariffs “would be a complete mess,” but the Department of Justice filed a document suggesting that tariff refunds will be available if the Supreme Court rules such duties to be illegal.
Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, has since announced plans to introduce a resolution aimed at terminating the tariffs intended for European nations.
A joint resolution of disapproval under the IEEPA would block the tariffs if it passes both chambers, but Trump could veto the measure, “meaning lawmakers would need a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to override him,” according to The Guardian.
Following Trump’s tariff threats, Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party, said that Parliament wouldn’t vote in favor of a transatlantic trade deal – signed by Trump and von der Leyen in July – which sets U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU at 15% in exchange for the bloc not applying levies on American exports, Politico reported.
Regional diplomats held an emergency meeting in Brussels on Sunday afternoon to discuss their response to Trump’s threat to escalate tariffs, with France reportedly pushing for the EU to use its strongest economic counter-threat to the U.S., known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument.”
- The ACI would allow the EU to restrict U.S. suppliers’ access to the EU market.
- The Financial Times reported that the EU was contemplating imposing 93 billion euros ($108 billion) worth of tariffs, as well as considering the use of the ACI.
