French president calls tariff threats ‘unacceptable’, while Sweden’s Ulf Kristersson warns EU will not be ‘blackmailed’ by US

Emmanuel Macron has hit back at Donald Trump’s latest threats to impose tariffs on any country opposing his Greenland takeover, warning that “no amount of intimidation” will persuade European nations to change their course on Greenland.

He was echoed by the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, who warned the EU would not be “blackmailed” by the US president, who on Saturday announced 10% tariffs on eight European countries from 1 February, with a further 25% tariff from 1 June.

In a joint statement, EU leaders said “tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral”.

It is highly likely that the European parliament will halt ratification of last summer’s trade deal with the US after Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s party, the largest voting bloc in the institute, said they would have to pause the legal rubber stamping process.

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  • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    3 hours ago

    Retract your claws, please. I can describe what they are doing and thinking without endorsing it.

    Perhaps you would find this other comment that I posted to Reddit more complete.

    Answer: (Please note that I’m going to detail what Trump and others are thinking here but that doesn’t mean I agree with them. Some of this is basic facts but a lot is POV. In particular I recognize that the American notion of “homeland defense” is incredibly aggressive, requiring a huge region of total control around the country and far afield, where the US wants to constantly project power toward its perceived adversaries).

    1. United States military believes that Greenland is of great strategic importance, especially as the ice up north disappears to open up more shipping lanes. Greenland is near some key shipping lanes, some key undersea internet lines, and is also just a big area of land between the US and Russia that the US wants defended to its general standard in terms of air dominance, missile defense, and readiness to repel invasion.
    2. United States military does not believe that Denmark is sufficiently guarding or even monitoring this region, and has already successfully negotiated to have some US bases up there to plug this hole. But they want more: complete control. The US does not like to have any dependencies on anyone for its defense.
    3. Greenland is rich in rare earth metals and those are importent for the future because they’re needed for advanced tech. China currently has a near monopoly on the world’s reserves and the US considers that a strategic threat. You can’t power a modern military without chips. And even if the US is able to get its own chip foundries going to reduce dependence on Taiwan, they still need the minerals.
    4. There is a long history of the US both criticizing Denmark’s management of the place (or lack of defense spending there), and of the US trying to buy the territory. Trump sees an opportunity to grab something and he doesn’t give a fuck if Europe or American liberals get flustered by it. In his view: the US is vulnerable unless Greenland is managed right, and no one is doing that. The country even lacks the population to truly mine their minerals or manage the corruption that is always a risk when a small nation comes into a flood of commodity wealth.

    So basically the hawkish elements of the US think that Greenland is 1. A strategic vulnerability for the US and 2. Just sitting there not being managed properly or at all. And since Trump has no respect for anyone, he actually likes the idea of grabbing this land. He doesn’t think anyone will actually do anything about it except complain. It will burnish his legacy and in his mind, strengthen America. He doesn’t think that Allies strengthen the US, he thinks that our Allies depend on the US. So in his mind we should be able to do what we think we need to because the entire world is depending on us for stability and defense.