European Union countries are hurrying to find a joint response to threats by US President Donald Trump to impose an additional 10% tariff on goods from several European allies from February 1.
EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels on Thursday after Trump said eight European countries would face higher tariffs until the United States secures what he described as the "complete and total purchase" of Greenland.
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom recently sent a small number of soldiers on a reconnaissance mission to Greenland as a sign of solidarity with Denmark, which is pushing back against Trump's takeover ambitions for the Arctic island it has controlled for about 300 years.
"We won't be blackmailed, and we stand together in solidarity in Europe," said German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, arriving at two days of previously planned talks in Brussels with his EU counterparts.
"We don't want an escalation. We are not looking for an escalation, but we are ready if it comes," Klingbeil said.
The EU has a "broad portfolio" of potential measures should the tariffs be imposed, he said, including the bloc's Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI).
"We have to do everything so that these threats do not become reality," said French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, speaking alongside Klingbeil.
"And the best way to do this is to show that Europe is ready to react, ready to react in a united, gathered and strong manner," Lescure said.
One EU measure currently under consideration is using the ACI, the so-called "trade bazooka", which would allow the bloc to impose retaliatory tariffs on imports of US goods alongside other restrictive measures.
The mechanism, adopted in 2023, can be used in cases of economic coercion when a non-EU country attempts to pressure the bloc or one of its 27 members into making a decision through trade restrictions.
Such practices "unduly interfere with the legitimate sovereign choices of the European Union and its member states," the European Commission says on its website.
Under discussion is also the possibility of imposing additional tariffs on a list of goods with a total trade volume of €93 billion ($108 billion), including industrial and agricultural goods such as motorcycles, beef, whiskey and citrus fruits.
The list had been prepared last year but was suspended before it entered into force as the EU and the US struck a trade deal in July.
The suspension lapses on February 6 unless the EU decides to renew it.
"We do have tools at our disposal. Currently nothing is off the table," EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said as he arrived at the finance ministers' talks.
Ahead of the Thursday summit "intensive consultations are ongoing among EU leaders" as well as contacts with the US "at all levels," a spokesman for the European Commission told journalists.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Trump are both expected in the Swiss ski resort Davos to attend the World Economic Forum this week, but no meeting has been planned for the time being, he said.
"The priority here is to engage, not escalate, and avoid the imposition of tariffs," the spokesman said. The EU is however prepared to "do everything necessary to protect EU economic interests" should the tariffs be imposed.
Dombrovskis also stressed the big volume of EU-US trade relations.
"There is lots to lose economically, both for Europe, but also for [the] US, its companies and workers. Therefore, we need to work on finding a constructive solution to move forward," he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte meanwhile hosted Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Greenlandic Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Motzfeldt for talks in Brussels.
Lund Poulsen and Motzfeldt said they had proposed a NATO mission for the Arctic region in an attempt to find a way out of the conflict over Greenland, according to reports by Danish broadcaster DR.
The precise details of the proposal and the response from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte remain unknown.
In a post on X, Rutte wrote: "We discussed how important the Arctic - including Greenland - is to our collective security & how Denmark is stepping up investments in key capabilities."
"We'll continue to work together as Allies on these important issues," the NATO secretary general added.
