Camille Naredo

US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP/File

US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Article (news)

USA-TRUMP

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1768740448580AFP__20251026__822996A__v4__MidRes__MalaysiaAseanUsBrazilDiplomacy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Brazil&#x27;s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP/File" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with Brazil&#x27;s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. <em>Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP/File</em><u></u></span></span></span></div><p>BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European leaders on Sunday hit back at US President Donald Trump&#x27;s threat of tariffs over their opposition to his designs on Greenland, with far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni urging Washington against making a &quot;mistake.&quot;</p><p>Trump has made no secret of his desire to seize the vast Arctic island, an autonomous territory of Denmark, since returning to the White House for a second term, and a ramping up of this claim in recent weeks has deeply shaken transatlantic relations.</p><p>He again upped the ante on Saturday, threatening to punish eight European countries with tariffs after they sent a few dozen troops to Greenland as part of a military drill.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/8/could-trump-s-desire-for-greenland-blow-up-nato-0111">READ: Could Trump&#x27;s desire for Greenland blow up NATO?</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/7/trump-weighs-military-option-to-acquire-greenland-0914">READ: Trump weighs military option to acquire Greenland</a></div><p>Meloni, who has a good relationship with Trump, said she had told him it was a &quot;mistake&quot; to punish Europe economically.</p><p>&quot;I believe that imposing new sanctions today would be a mistake,&quot; she told journalists during a trip to Seoul, adding that &quot;I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I think.&quot;</p><p>However, Meloni also sought to downplay the conflict, telling journalists &quot;there has been a problem of understanding and communication&quot; between Europe and the United States on Greenland.</p><p>She said it was up to NATO to take an active role in the growing crisis.</p><p>British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is planning to discuss the situation with Trump &quot;at the earliest opportunity&quot;, UK Culture Minister Lisa Nandy told the BBC, calling the president&#x27;s tariff threat &quot;wrong&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We believe it&#x27;s deeply unhelpful, and we believe it&#x27;s counterproductive, and the prime minister has not shied away from making that clear,&quot; she said.</p><p>French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile called on the European Union to combat the threatened tariffs by deploying its powerful &quot;anti-coercion instrument&quot;.</p><div> </div><div><strong>- Bring out the &#x27;bazooka&#x27;? -</strong></div><p>That weapon -- never used before and dubbed the EU&#x27;s trade &quot;bazooka&quot; -- allows for curbing imports of goods and services.</p><p>Trump has threatened to impose a 10-percent tariff from February 1 on all goods sent to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland.</p><p>That levy would then be increased to 25 percent on June 1 &quot;until such time as a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland&quot;, the US president said.</p><p>The EU, which clinched a deal in July for most EU exports to face a 15-percent US levy, has called an extraordinary meeting of its ambassadors in Brussels on Sunday.</p><p>EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, warned Saturday that tariffs would &quot;undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral&quot;.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/9/trump-says-my-own-morality-is-only-restraint-on-global-power-0931">READ: Trump says &#x27;my own morality&#x27; is only restraint on global power</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/1/18/greenland-minister-praises-european-countries-for-response-to-trump-tariffs-threat-0844">READ: Greenland minister praises European countries for response to Trump tariffs threat</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Blackmail&#x27; -</strong></div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAFz8gWM8iRADsJr&amp;cid=ABwBf3FNQE9DBbOC"></script><p>Thousands of people in Greenland&#x27;s capital Nuuk, Copenhagen and other Danish cities protested against the prospect of US annexation on Saturday.</p><p>Denmark&#x27;s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen announced Sunday he would visit fellow NATO members Norway, the UK and Sweden in the coming days to discuss the alliance&#x27;s Arctic security policy.</p><p>France&#x27;s Agricultural Minister Annie Genevard warned that tariffs would hurt Washington, too.</p><p>&quot;In this escalation of tariffs, (Trump) has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists,&quot; she told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.</p><p>Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel meanwhile called Trump&#x27;s threat an &quot;inexplicable&quot; form of &quot;blackmail&quot;. </p>

<p>European leaders on Sunday hit back at US President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs over their opposition to his designs on Greenland, with far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni urging Washington against making a "mistake."</p>

European leaders on Sunday hit back at US President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs over their opposition to his designs on Greenland, with far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni urging Washington against making a "mistake."

Europe scrambles to respond to Trump tariff threat

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Europe scrambles to respond to Trump tariff threat

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 18, 2026 09:52 PM PHT

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Donald Trump

Europe

European Union

EU

Greenland

tariffs

Denmark

White House

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