Europe to counter Trump ‘blackmail,’ Germany says

European nations are preparing countermeasures to Donald Trump’s “blackmail,” Germany’s Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said Monday.

Klingbeil said Europe would respond “with a united, clear” response to the US president’s threat of tariffs against eight countries for their opposition to his aim of acquiring Greenland, a Danish-owned, semiautonomous Arctic territory.

“We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” Klingbeil, who is also Germany‘s finance minister, told a press conference in Berlin alongside French Economy Minister Roland Lescure.

“We are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners,” Klingbeil added.

The German minister’s remarks come after Trump on Saturday vowed to impose tariffs of up to 25% on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland unless the sale of Greenland is completed.

The German vice chancellor also hinted that European nations were running out of patience over Trump’s increasingly hostile behavior, saying the “limit has been reached.”

“We are constantly experiencing a new confrontation that President Trump is seeking,” Klingbeil said.

Lescure echoed Klingbeil’s view that Trump’s tariff threat was tantamount to “blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends,” calling it “obviously unacceptable.”

“We Europeans must remain united and coordinated in our response and, above all, be prepared to make full use of the instruments” of the European Union, Lescure said. 

“We are determined to defend our sovereignty.”

The French minister said G7 finance ministers would meet in the coming days.