LONDON — The leaders of all 27 European Union nations will meet for an “extraordinary assembly” later this week, European Council President Antonio Costa mentioned on Sunday, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating stress marketing campaign to accumulate Greenland.
Costa mentioned he had referred to as the assembly as a result of “significance of latest developments.”
European leaders are mobilizing after Trump on Saturday introduced a ten% tariff to be imposed on all items despatched to the U.S. from eight NATO nations — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.Ok., the Netherlands and Finland — that just lately despatched small contingents of troops to Greenland to participate in army workout routines there.
Costa mentioned latest conversations with European leaders had reconfirmed their “sturdy dedication” to worldwide regulation, Arctic safety by means of NATO and solidarity with Denmark and Greenland within the face of Trump’s continued effort to accumulate the Arctic island.
Danish troopers disembark on the port in Nuuk, Greenland, on Jan. 18, 2026.
Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP through Getty Ima
European leaders additionally agreed that “tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and are incompatible with the EU-U.S. commerce settlement,” Costa mentioned, noting the bloc’s “readiness to defend ourselves in opposition to any type of coercion” and to have interaction “constructively with the US on all problems with widespread curiosity.”
An EU Council spokesperson confirmed to ABC Information that the summit can be an in-person assembly in Brussels.
Trump mentioned the brand new tariffs will come into power on Feb. 1 and can enhance to 25% on June 1. The president mentioned the measures would stay in place till the U.S. is ready to buy Greenland.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump first raised the prospect of buying the minerals-rich island in his first time period. Danish and Greenlandic politicians have repeatedly rebuffed such proposals.
This file photograph exhibits European Union flags outdoors the European Fee headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 18, 2025.
Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters
Trump’s new tariffs elevate the chance of a recent transatlantic commerce struggle. A French official confirmed to ABC Information on Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron “will request the activation of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument within the occasion of recent U.S. tariffs.”
That mechanism, colloquially referred to as the bloc’s “commerce bazooka,” would permit the EU to impose extreme restrictions on U.S. items and companies. Among the many obtainable measures can be restrictions on U.S. funding in EU nations, blocks on entry to public procurement schemes and limits on mental property protections.
Trump has repeatedly prompt that U.S. sovereignty over the world’s largest island is critical to make sure American safety and blunt Chinese language and Russian affect within the Arctic area. On Sunday, the president once more claimed that solely the U.S. can make sure the safety of Greenland.
A 1951 protection settlement grants the U.S. army entry to Greenland. Danish politicians have repeatedly expressed willingness to work with Washington to develop the American and NATO presence there.
Danish officers have additionally sought to go off issues concerning the supposed vulnerability of the Arctic. Final yr, Copenhagen introduced a $6.5 billion Arctic protection package deal in response to U.S. criticism that it had did not adequately defend Greenland.
However such steps don’t seem to have deterred Trump, who has mentioned he would think about taking Greenland by power if different means to accumulate the land fail.
The Greenlandic flag flies over homes, Jan. 17, 2026, in Nuuk, Greenland.
Sean Gallup/Getty Photos
Certainly, it was the latest deployment of extra NATO forces to the Arctic territory that prompted Trump to threaten a brand new raft of tariffs. The troops traveled to Greenland to participate within the Danish-led Operation Arctic Endurance.
Danish Protection Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Greenlandic Overseas Minister Vivian Motzfeldt are scheduled to go to NATO’s headquarters in Brussels on Monday for a beforehand deliberate assembly with the alliance’s Secretary Normal Mark Rutte, NATO mentioned in a press launch.
ABC Information’ Victoria Beaule and Tom Soufi Burridge contributed to this report.
