After Trump's Greenland Threats, Europe is Realizing that U.S. Dependence Comes With Costs
A Saturday morning tariff threat shows that the U.S. is not a reliable ally
The European response was notably strong following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 10 percent tariff against eight European countries for opposing U.S. control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. On January 17, French President Emmanuel Macron said the tariffs were “unacceptable” and added that “no intimidation or threat will influence us.” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has largely avoided criticizing Trump, said that the tariffs were “completely wrong.” EU lawmakers announced that the ratification of the lopsided July trade deal between the U.S. and EU was on hold.
Since 1945, European countries have largely relied on the U.S. as an inexpensive security guarantor. Trump’s bullying over Greenland has shown that this arrangement has substantial economic costs and doesn’t provide much security.
It appears that the EU cannot have a predictable trading relationship with the U.S. as long as it relies on Washington for security. In July, the EU accepted a 15 percent tariff on most goods in exchange for no tariffs on U.S. goods imported to Europe. (The U.K. accepted a 10 percent tariff.) EU officials conceded that the unbalanced deal was accepted for security reasons. The EU and U.K. deals stood in contrast with countries like Brazil, India and China, which stood up to Trump’s tariffs, and in Brazil and China’s cases, some of the tariffs were removed.
With Trump’s Greenland announcement, this deal is all but off.
