Opinion | Europe Has The Weapons For Trump's Greenland Tariff War |
The Cold War satirical novel The Mouse That Roared imagined a tiny European statelet declaring war on the US in the hopes of being lavished with American aid after its inevitable defeat. It's a title that came immediately to mind when European nations sent three dozen soldiers to Greenland in response to Donald Trump's threats to wrest the island from Danish control. The idea seems to have been: Support Denmark, yes, but don't antagonise the White House when Ukrainian security is also on the line.
Whatever the intent, it hasn't worked. Trump's contemptuous delight in beating up US allies was given free rein over the weekend as he raised the ante over the Arctic territory. It's time for Europe to fight tariff fire with fire.
The president threatened a 10 per cent duty from February on US imports from the countries sending troops: France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and non-European Union members UK and Norway. That would increase to 25 per cent in June until a deal is reached for his government to buy Greenland. In a grim flashback to last year's EU-US trade deal when the bloc had to swallow a 15 per cent tariff on its transatlantic exports, the underbelly of Europe's trade-dependent, soft-power regime is fully exposed.
The cost of such extra........