Amid threats from US President Donald Trump in the Greenland dispute, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised a "fearless" response from the EU. "Our response will be fearless, united and adequate", she said on Tuesday during her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The additional tariffs proposed by Trump are "a mistake, especially between allies."
Over the weekend, the US president again insisted on national security grounds that the US should take control of Greenland, which belongs to NATO member Denmark. Trump announced new tariffs on eight European countries that refuse to comply with his demands, including Germany. Additional tariffs of 10% will be imposed from February 1, and from June - 25%.
What measures will the EU take?
On Thursday, at a special summit, the EU will discuss what retaliatory measures could be taken. One option is to impose tariffs worth 93 billion euros against the United States, but the Community also has other tools against coercion that have not been used so far - such as barriers to investment or restrictions on the export of American services, mainly aimed at dominant American digital companies.
Von der Leyen said the measures threatened to put the United States and the EU "in a downward spiral" that would only benefit adversaries, whom both sides want to keep "as far away as possible" from their strategic interests. Washington and Brussels agreed on a trade deal last year and "a deal is a deal" stressed the President of the European Commission. "When friends shake hands, it should mean something."
Greenland's sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, Ursula von der Leyen also said. She also announced a "massive European investment boost" for the Arctic island. Hand in hand with Greenland and Denmark, the local economy and infrastructure will be supported even more intensively.
The EU also wants to "work with the US and all partners on a more comprehensive concept of security in the Arctic". Additional spending in the defense sector should be directed, for example, towards a European icebreaker fleet.
In view of recent events, the President of the EC stressed: "Geopolitical turmoil can and should be an opportunity for Europe". The "earthquake" that is currently being felt shows the need to "build a new form of European independence".
Trump wants more than just Greenland
Donald Trump will also give a speech in Davos on Wednesday. On his social network Truth Social, the American president wrote that he will discuss his plans to acquire Greenland there. On this issue, "there is no turning back".
In addition, the Republican made it clear that Canada also remains on his wish list: he published a photo montage depicting Trump in the Oval Office with European heads of state and government. Part of the photomontage is a map of America, on which Venezuela, Greenland and Canada are also colored in the colors of the American flag.
At the beginning of his second term, Trump had declared that Canada should become part of the United States as the "51st state". And in early 2026, the US military arrested the authoritarian head of state Nicolás Maduro and took him out of Venezuela.
"An act of total weakness"
In Truth Social, the US president also criticized Britain's decision to give up its sovereignty over the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The corresponding agreement is "an act of total weakness". China and Russia have undoubtedly noticed this step. It is part of a long list of reasons "why Greenland should be acquired".
The government in London, for its part, wrote that the treaty guarantees the operation of a joint US-British military base on Diego Garcia "for generations to come". It contains "robust safeguards" to "keep our adversaries at bay".
Under last year's agreement, the UK will transfer the Chagos archipelago, to which Diego Garcia belongs, to Mauritius. At the same time, a long-term lease agreement guarantees London continued control of the base.
When it was signed in May, the US government welcomed the agreement and praised the efforts to ensure the long-term operation of the base. In Britain, Trump's latest criticisms are interpreted as a sign that relations between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the US president have cooled significantly.