{"id":253340,"date":"2026-01-20T00:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253340\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T00:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:13:09","slug":"european-leaders-hope-to-avoid-greenland-dispute-escalating-into-trade-war-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/253340\/","title":{"rendered":"European leaders hope to avoid Greenland dispute escalating into trade war \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

European leaders<\/a> are hoping to prevent a trade war breaking out with the United States<\/a> over Greenland<\/a>, but are preparing contingency plans to push back on Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s \u201cblackmail\u201d attempts, should high-stakes attempts to defuse tensions this week fail. <\/p>\n

Efforts to engage the White House are being stepped up and several EU leaders are expected to discuss the crisis in transatlantic relations directly with Mr Trump in Davos<\/a> this week on the margins of the World Economic Forum<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It is understood top officials close to European Commission<\/a> president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> have been in contact with senior figures in the Trump administration, including Jared Kushner, to sound out the US<\/a> president\u2019s intentions. <\/p>\n

Mr Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on trade from Denmark<\/a> and several other European countries in the next fortnight if the US is not allowed to buy Greenland. <\/p>\n

On Monday, it emerged that he has linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Unbelievably embarrassing\u2019: Norway reacts to Venezuelan opposition leader giving Nobel peace medal to TrumpOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In a text message on Sunday to Norway\u2019s prime minister Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re, Mr Trump said: \u201cConsidering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars \u2060PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

A summit of the EU\u2019s 27 national leaders on Thursday evening is expected to debate several responses to the tariff threat, such as levying counter tariffs on more than \u20ac90 billion worth of US trade. <\/p>\n

It is understood French president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> will propose the EU threatens to use emergency power \u2013 the anti-coercion instrument \u2013 to increase its negotiating leverage.<\/p>\n

\"USUS president Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida on Friday. Photograph: Allison Robbert\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

The defensive trade tool, known as the \u201cbig bazooka\u201d, has never been used and would allow the bloc to partially curtail US companies\u2019 ability to operate in the EU market.<\/p>\n

The French government is seeking a tougher stance towards Mr Trump. <\/p>\n

Europe is facing an \u201cexistential moment\u201d in how it responds to the latest US threats, T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris told EU counterparts in a Brussels meeting of finance ministers on Monday. <\/p>\n

The Fine Gael leader stressed the Government\u2019s view that the EU needed to push for dialogue with the White House. <\/p>\n

German chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> also moved to cool the more strident tone from Paris, criticising Mr Trump\u2019s Greenland ambitions while warning about the unintended consequences of retaliatory tariffs.<\/p>\n

\"GermanGerman chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks to the media in Berlin on Monday. Photograph: Nadja Wohlleben\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cFrance is affected by the American tariffs to a different extent than we are and given this I understand the French government and the French president want to react a little more harshly than we do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Mr Merz, who will meet Mr Trump on Wednesday in Davos, said the EU would work to adopt a \u201ccommon position\u201d. <\/p>\n

The German leader said he would only back a solution that \u201cprotects German interests\u201d \u2013 including its influential export and automobile sectors, already hit by previous tariffs from the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

In a joint press conference earlier, the finance ministers of Germany and France said Europe would not allow itself to be \u201cblackmailed\u201d into handing over Greenland by the US. <\/p>\n

Officials in the European Commission privately explored the possibility of putting tariffs on US services, such as the tech industry, as well as imported goods, during previous trade tensions last year, which may feature as another option in discussions. <\/p>\n

Separately, Denmark and Greenland have proposed establishing a full Nato mission in the Arctic, in an effort to address concerns about Russia\u2019s presence in the region, which Mr Trump claims is the reason the US needs to control Greenland, the semi-autonomous island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.<\/p>\n

A ministerial meeting arranged at short notice by Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin expressed support for the integrity and rights of the people of Greenland. <\/p>\n

Senior officials from the Department of Finance attended the meeting, which discussed the threats of extra tariffs Mr Trump has made against eight European countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European leaders are hoping to prevent a trade war breaking out with the United States over Greenland, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,7038,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-253340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-irish-politics","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}