{"id":422161,"date":"2026-01-18T23:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T23:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/422161\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T23:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T23:55:08","slug":"trumps-tariff-shock-suggests-eus-strategy-of-flattery-and-appeasement-has-failed-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/422161\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s tariff shock suggests EU\u2019s strategy of flattery and appeasement has failed | European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the sun set over the port of Limassol in Cyprus, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, last Thursday used a tried and tested formula to describe the US \u2013 calling it one of \u201cour allies, our partners\u201d. Only 24 hours earlier, Denmark, an EU and Nato member state, had warned that Donald Trump was intent on \u201cconquering\u201d Greenland<\/a>, but the reflex at the top of the EU executive to describe the US as a friend runs deep.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s weekend announcement that eight countries that have supported Greenland would face tariffs unless there was a deal to sell the territory to the US was another hammer to the transatlantic alliance, mocking the notion that the US is Europe\u2019s ally. The eight countries include six EU member states, as well as Norway and the UK, the latter unprotected by the much vaunted \u201cspecial relationship<\/a>\u201d. It suggests that Europe\u2019s strategy of flattering and appeasing the US president has failed.<\/p>\n

For critics, exhibit A is von der Leyen\u2019s decision to sign a trade deal with Trump that was deeply skewed in favour of the US. While the EU agreed to eliminate tariffs on many US goods, it accepted 15% duties on many products and 50% on steel. After years of the EU extolling its heft as a trade player, the terms of the EU-US trade deal <\/a>signed at Trump\u2019s Turnberry golf course last July were seen as a humiliation.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen defended that deal<\/a> by saying it provided \u201ccrucial stability in our relations with the US\u201d at a time of acute instability in an \u201cunforgiving\u201d world.<\/p>\n

Now that argument is left in ruins, while the 0% tariffs for the US may never be implemented. The Trump administration has succeeded in uniting the European parliament from radical left to far right \u2013 via mainstream groups \u2013 against the agreement. The leader of France\u2019s far-right National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, described Trump\u2019s threats as \u201ccommercial blackmail\u201d and said the EU should suspend last summer\u2019s agreement. Meanwhile, the centre-right European People\u2019s Party leader, Manfred Weber, aligned itself with other mainstream parties in calling for ratification of the deal to be paused.<\/p>\n

The Greenlandic flag flies over a building as the HDMS Vaedderen frigate of the Danish navy patrols behind in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday. Photograph: Sean Gallup\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The unspoken reason for accepting the unequal trade bargain was the hope it would keep the US backing Ukraine to defend itself in its war with Russia, providing capabilities, such as intelligence, which Europe is unable to match after decades of low defence spending. The former prime minister of Latvia Kri\u0161j\u0101nis Kari\u0146\u0161 has described this as Europe\u2019s diplomatic disadvantage. \u201cEurope still needs the US,\u201d he told the Guardian this week, before the latest Trump announcement. \u201cSo that\u2019s what makes the entire process [on Greenland] very, very difficult. And national leaders are generally speaking quite hesitant to criticise President Trump. But they\u2019re also hesitant in explaining to their societies why that\u2019s the case, this security dependence.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Trump may have pushed the EU too far. Although Greenland left the EU\u2019s predecessor organisation, the European Community, in 1985, acquiescing in the forced sale of the territory of an EU member state would send a disastrous signal about the EU as a geopolitical actor and its commitment to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

As European leaders lined up to declare their determination to uphold Danish and Greenlandic sovereignty, there are growing calls to use the EU\u2019s powerful but untested anti-coercion instrument against the US.<\/p>\n

The regulation, invariably described as the EU\u2019s \u201cbig bazooka\u201d, was originally conceived as a response to Chinese economic pressure. It would allow the EU to impose sweeping restrictions on US goods and services, suspend investment or intellectual property protections.<\/p>\n

France, which has long championed a muscular response to US pressure, called on the EU to trigger the instrument if Trump goes ahead with tariffs on countries supporting Greenland. But using the anti-coercion instrument is neither quick nor simple. While the commission promises \u201ca certain expeditiousness\u201d, agreeing on sanctions could take around one year. Punitive measures require agreement of at least 55% of EU member states representing 65% of the population.<\/p>\n

When Trump introduced his so-called liberation day tariffs in 2025, European leaders denounced them as \u201cwrong\u201d, harmful, mutually destructive and pledged a \u201crobust response\u201d. In the end divisions among the 27 member states and determination to shelter national industries from Trump\u2019s countermeasures<\/a> put the EU on the path of appeasement rather than confrontation. As the 80-year-old transatlantic relationship goes through epoch-defining changes<\/a>, the next few weeks will reveal whether this time is different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the sun set over the port of Limassol in Cyprus, the head of the European Commission, Ursula…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-422161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}