Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a statement Tuesday that “appeasement is always a sign of weakness” – a comment that comes as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten Greenland with annexation.
“Europe cannot afford to be weak – neither against its enemies, nor ally,” Tusk said in a social media post.
“Appeasement means no results, only humiliation. European assertiveness and self-confidence have become the need of the moment,” he added.
On Saturday, Trump said he would impose a 10 per cent import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland, which Trump has not ruled out seizing by force and argues the U.S. needs for “national security.”
Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a member of both the European Union and the NATO military alliance.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who is a former NATO Secretary General and former Danish prime minister, said the recent escalation from Washington shows the time for “flattering Trump” was over.
“It’s really the future of NATO that is at stake,” Rasmussen told Reuters at Davos, adding that Trump’s insistence that Greenland become a part of the United States is the biggest challenge to NATO in its 77-year history.
“The time for flattering is over. It doesn’t work. The fact is Trump only respects force and strength. And unity. That’s exactly what Europe should demonstrate right now,” he said.
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He said the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument – the so-called “bazooka” that confers broad powers to retaliate against economic pressure – should be on the table after Trump threatened tariffs on eight European nations until the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland.
The tariffs are “a mistake, especially between long-standing allies,” von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which has seen leaders from all over the world gather.
“Plunging us into a downward spiral would only aid the very adversaries we are both so committed to keeping out of the strategic landscape,” she said.
“Our response will be unflinching, united and proportional.”
The EU’s top official also expressed solidarity with Greenland and Denmark, adding that their sovereignty was “non-negotiable.”
She went on to say that Europe would be open to working with the U.S. on Arctic security.
“We need to work with all of our regional partners to strengthen our common security. This is why we will look at how to strengthen our security partnerships with partners such as the U.K., Canada, Norway, Iceland and others,” she added.
Tusk is not the only European leader pushing back against Trump’s threats.
Trump’s tariffs and threats against Europe are “fundamentally unacceptable” and “openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.
“Competition from the United States of America through trade agreements that undermine our export interests demand maximum concessions and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable,” Macron said while addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty,” he said.
“We do believe that we need more growth, we need more stability in this world, but we do prefer respect to bullies,” Macron added.
Europe’s response to Trump’s threats will be “unflinching, united, and proportional,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech Tuesday, while expressing solidarity with Greenland and Denmark.
Overnight, Trump made a series of posts on his preferred social media platform Truth Social, including an artificial intelligence-generated image of him, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio planting a U.S. flag on Greenland.
Trump also shared a text he said was from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who said in the text that he was “committed to finding a way forward.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a domestic critic of Trump’s, urged world leaders to stand up to the president.
“America’s allies and business leaders need to understand this: There’s no diplomacy with Donald Trump. Get off your knees and grow a spine,” Newsom said in a social media post.
EU member states are gearing up for an emergency summit to discuss Trump’s escalating threats against Greenland later this week as the bloc weighs the use of its “trade bazooka” as well as other options in response.
That comes as Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norway’s prime minister that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace,” two European officials said Monday to The Associated Press.
Trump did not rule out the use of force to accomplish his goal of acquiring Greenland, NBC News reported, citing an exclusive telephone interview with the U.S. news outlet in which Trump was asked if he would use force to seize Greenland.
“No comment,” Trump said.
The president indicated the tariffs were retaliation for last week’s deployment of symbolic numbers of troops from European countries to Greenland, which he has said was essential for the “Golden Dome” missile defence system for the U.S.
The escalating rhetoric from Trump has Europe bracing, with members set to meet on Thursday after the weekend saw thousands of people take part in protests against the United States in Denmark and in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk.
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