EU Leaders To Convene Emergency Summit On Jan 22 Over Trump's Greenland Threats

Last Updated:January 19, 2026, 18:01 IST

EU leaders to meet in Brussels for an emergency summit after Trump threatened tariffs over Greenland. EU may use the anti-coercion instrument if Trump does not back down.

EU trade spokesman Olof Gill (X)

The EU leaders will meet on Thursday for an emergency summit to discuss the threats by US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on countries opposing his move to seize Greenland.

According to AFP, the leaders from the 27-nation bloc will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday evening to discuss their response to one of the gravest crises in years to hit transatlantic ties.

“Our priority is to engage, not escalate," EU trade spokesman Olof Gill said. “Sometimes the most responsible form of leadership is restraint."

Gill said engagement with the United States continued at all levels.

“We are trying to be calm, to be firm, to be serious, to be responsible, because that’s what, in our view, leadership looks like," he said.

“Should the threatened tariffs be imposed, the European Union has tools at its disposal and is prepared to respond," he added.

This comes days after Trump vowed to slap tariffs on EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden – and non-members Britain and Norway – unless Greenland is ceded to the US.

According to AFP, the EU is considering different responses if Trump does not back down, including putting the current tariff deal agreed last year with the United States on hold.

One of the responses being considered is if the situation does not change then an array of tools, including the “anti-coercion instrument" known as the “bazooka," might be used.

“People ask me, is the anti-coercion instrument back on the table? It was never off the table," Gill said.

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump sent a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, questioning Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland and argued that neither Denmark nor existing security arrangements could protect the territory from major powers.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also," he mentioned.

Asserting his role within the Western military alliance, Trump claimed, “I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States."

He added, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland."

News world EU Leaders To Convene Emergency Summit On Jan 22 Over Trump's Greenland Threats

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