French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing the European Union to activate its most powerful trade weapon for the first time in history, calling for deployment of the bloc's 'anti-coercion instrument' in response to Donald Trump's threats to impose escalating tariffs on eight European nations until they agree to facilitate a US purchase of Greenland. Macron's team confirmed on Sunday that the French president would formally request activation of the mechanism, dubbed the EU's 'trade bazooka', during emergency talks amongst European ambassadors convened in Brussels.
The unprecedented move comes after Trump announced on Saturday that he would impose 10 per cent tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland starting 1 February, rising to 25 per cent by 1 June unless a deal is reached for the 'complete and total purchase' of Greenland. 'No intimidation or threat will influence us, whether in Ukraine, in Greenland or elsewhere in the world,' Macron wrote on social media. The anti-coercion instrument, formally known as Regulation 2023/2675, entered into force in December 2023 but has never been deployed.
Emergency Meeting Called as Eight Nations Issue Joint Warning
EU ambassadors from all 27 member states convened for emergency talks on Sunday afternoon in Brussels after Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, called the meeting. The meeting took place hours after the eight targeted nations issued a strongly worded joint statement condemning Trump's approach.
'Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,' the governments of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom said in the statement. 'We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland. We will continue to stand united and coordinated in our response.'
Trump's tariff threats target European countries that deployed military personnel to Greenland in recent days at Denmark's request for joint security exercises. The US president wrote on Truth Social that the nations had 'journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown', though the deployments were publicly announced as part of Operation Arctic Endurance, a defensive training exercise.
'Trade Bazooka' Could Shut US Firms Out of European Markets
The anti-coercion instrument represents what many European officials consider a nuclear option in trade policy. If activated, the mechanism could shut off American companies' access to European public procurement contracts worth billions, restrict US services trade in sectors like finance and technology, and impose targeted barriers on key American exports.
The instrument was designed with both China and the United States in mind, as the world's two largest economies have increasingly weaponised trade policy to advance geopolitical aims. It was partly inspired by China's trade restrictions against Lithuania after that country allowed Taiwan to open a representative office, as well as US steel and aluminium tariffs imposed in 2018.
Under the regulation, economic coercion exists when a third country applies or threatens to apply measures affecting trade or investment to pressure the EU or a member state into making a particular policy choice. The European Commission would first examine whether coercion is occurring, a process that can take up to four months, after which EU member states must decide by qualified majority whether to activate countermeasures.
European Leaders Unite
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described Trump's decision as 'completely wrong', stating that 'applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong'. He added that he would be 'pursuing this directly' with the US administration.
Even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has typically maintained positive relations with Trump, called the move an 'error', revealing she had already spoken with Trump by telephone to express disagreement with imposing tariffs against countries contributing to Greenland's security.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, called for the EU to suspend implementation of tariff reductions on US goods agreed in last year's trade deal, whilst Manfred Weber, leader of the largest party in the European Parliament, said approval of the EU-US trade agreement 'must be put on hold' given Trump's threats.
BREAKING: France’s President Macron calls for the EU to activate its "most potent trade weapon" against the US after President Trump's tariff threat over Greenland.
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 18, 2026
Macron is now calling for the use of the EU's "anti-coercion instrument."
If used against the US, it would… pic.twitter.com/E47Bpe03lK
Turning Point
The potential deployment of the anti-coercion instrument marks a historic turning point in transatlantic relations, representing the first time the EU would formally categorise its closest ally's actions as economic coercion warranting the bloc's most severe trade countermeasures.
The dispute threatens to unravel the fragile EU-US trade deal negotiated in July 2025, which tripled tariffs on European goods to 15 per cent whilst cutting duties to zero on American industrial products. That agreement has not yet been ratified by the European Parliament, and lawmakers have indicated Trump's Greenland tariffs make approval increasingly unlikely.
