Brussels, Jan 18 (IANS) Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, urged the European Commission to trigger the EU’s anti-coercion instrument after US President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on a group of European countries over Greenland.
“It is also now high time to use the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) … and formulate a clear EU response,” Lange said in a LinkedIn post, urging the Commission to start the ACI procedure immediately, Xinhua news agency reported.
Trump said on Saturday that the country will impose 10-per cent tariffs on all goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland over Greenland starting on February 1.
Lange called the threat “incredible” and “a new dimension” in the use of tariffs as a political weapon, adding that the EU could not “carry on with business as usual” under the circumstances.
Lange also said the US step amounted to another breach of a political EU-US tariff and trade deal agreed in Scotland in July 2025, and said the European Parliament would discuss the issue again with political groups next week.
“I cannot imagine that we can continue with business as usual, and I assume that we will suspend our further work,” he said.
Greenland is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, with Copenhagen retaining control over defense and foreign policy. The United States maintains a military base on the island.
Trump has repeatedly demonstrated his interest in Greenland, from “buying” the island during his first presidential term, to the current employment of “a range of options” including “utilizing the US military” to seize the autonomous island. The Greenland crisis escalated after Trump recently intensified his bid to acquire the island.
–IANS
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