US president Donald Trump has been accused by French president Emmanuel Macron of trying to “subordinate” Europe in his pursuit of Greenland.
Leaders of several European Union states are preparing to mount a diplomatic blitz over the next 48 hours to convince the US president to retract his threats to levy fresh trade tariffs on countries opposing his plans to “buy” Greenland, a Danish territory.
When asked how far he would be willing to go to acquire Greenland, during a White House press briefing on Wednesday night, Mr Trump said: “You’ll find out”.
Speaking to The Irish Times in Brussels, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said Europe is facing the prospect of an “entire breakdown” of its relationship with the US over Mr Trump’s “dark and grim” territorial desire for Greenland.
European allies are planning to lobby Mr Trump on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. They want to make the case for closer co-operation on Arctic security to negate the need for the US to control Greenland.
Mr Harris said the coming days would be “crucial” for the future of the EU-US relationship. “There’s no point being flippant here … This is an existential moment,” he said.
“You’re not simply talking about a tariff, you’re talking about an entire breakdown in the relationship,” the Fine Gael leader said, after leaving a meeting of EU finance ministers.
Government leaders have been presented with a range of scenarios on the economic impact Ireland could face. They include the prospect that growth would be reduced by 1.5 per cent of modified domestic demand over four years, with 60,000 fewer jobs created.
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But the Department of Finance has cautioned the Government that modelling the outcome with a high degree of confidence is not possible due to the range of unpredictable scenarios.
European capitals have been scrambling to co-ordinate a response to tariffs Mr Trump said he will raise on trade coming from Denmark and seven other European countries on February 1st, unless the US is allowed to take control of Greenland.
In a speech in Davos, Mr Macron said: “We cannot accept a world where the law of strongest holds sway”. Europe prefers “respect over bullies,” he said.
Earlier it emerged Mr Macron privately told Mr Trump he could convene a meeting of G7 leaders in Paris on Thursday to discuss the Greenland crisis, among other things. A screenshot of the text from the French leader was published in full by Mr Trump on social media.
A summit of EU leaders on Thursday evening might not take any immediate decisions, Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said.
However, Ms Frederiksen said she expected leaders to lay the groundwork for a joint response should Mr Trump’s threatened tariffs come into effect next month.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Harris repeated calls for dialogue between European capitals and Washington. Ireland would be part of any European response, rowing in behind Denmark and Greenland’s sovereignty, he said.
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A package of tariffs affecting €93 billion of US trade is seen as the most likely way the EU would initially retaliate.
Ireland remains cautious about the EU turning to stronger measures, such as its anti-coercion instrument, which would allow the bloc to target US companies operating in Europe.
The Government hopes that diplomatic efforts bear fruit without resorting to what one Minister described as a “much harder line” being pursued by some other European capitals.
Nonetheless, despite wariness about the consequences of a rapidly escalating exchange of measures, the same person said there needed to be a “level of self-respect” in Europe’s approach to countermeasures if diplomacy falls short.
The Coalition is reluctant to curtail Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day programme to communicate its displeasure to Washington, a step which is said not to be on the cards.