Davos, Switzerland/Paris, Jan 20 (EFE).- French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged his European Union partners not to give in to the “law of the strongest” and to be ready to use the EU’s anti-coercion mechanism after the United States threatened tariffs amid tensions over Greenland.
“The anti-coercion mechanism is a powerful instrument, and we should not hesitate to deploy it in today’s tough environment,” Macron told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He was referring to the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, often dubbed the “commercial bazooka,” which was adopted at the end of 2023 and has yet to be used to counter economic pressure from third countries.
Macron said the EU could be forced to activate it for the first time.
“We could find ourselves having to use the anti-coercion mechanism for the very first time, vis-à-vis the United States, if they impose additional tariffs,” he said. “Can you imagine that? It’s crazy.”
Macron’s remarks came after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional 10 percent tariffs on European countries involved in military manoeuvres in Greenland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as Norway and the United Kingdom.
Trump has also threatened tariffs of up to 200 percent on French wines and champagne after Macron refused to join the Gaza Peace Council proposed by the Republican leader.
“With Greenland, we have not threatened anyone; we have supported an ally, Denmark,” Macron said in his Davos address.
He described the tariffs threatened by Trump against countries opposing his ambitions as “unacceptable, especially if they are used by Washington to gain a territorial advantage.”
“We must not passively accept the law of the strongest, because that leads to a politics of force and a neocolonial approach,” Macron stressed. “Neocolonialism is not the solution.”
At the start of his speech, Macron sarcastically said it was “a time of peace, stability and predictability.”
“So let’s try to address the key challenges in the world in a few minutes time,” he said, sparking a bout of laughter from the audiences.
“We do believe that we need more growth, we need more stability in this world, but we do prefer respect to bullies,” Macron said.
“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.»
He said they were «combined with an endless accumulation of new tariffs that are fundamentally unacceptable, even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty.»
Speaking at the same forum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that imposing such tariffs would be “a mistake especially between long-standing allies.”
“The EU and US have agreed to a trade deal last July. And in politics as in business – a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something,” she added, referring to the agreement under which EU-produced goods are subject to a general 15 percent tariff in the US.
Addressing an audience of political and business leaders, Macron called on Europe to take responsibility in confronting these trends and what he described as “brutal acts.”
He said the choice is to “passively accept the law of the strongest” that would lead to “vassalisation and block” politics and “new colonial approach.”
He argued that the EU needs “greater sovereignty and autonomy” in a world drifting toward the “law of the strongest,” while also making the case for international cooperation through forums such as the United Nations and the G7, which France currently chairs.
Macron had invited Trump to attend a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday to discuss the Greenland tensions, but the US president has yet to respond.
Instead, Trump said on Tuesday that he plans to hold a meeting with the “different parties” on Greenland in Davos. Macron will not attend, having told reporters he is leaving the Swiss Alpine resort. EFE
cat-ac-atc-sk
