As fresh talk of a U.S.-Europe trade war intensified on Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva issued a stark warning to European leaders: “Get your act together.”
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that eight European allies would face increasing tariffs, starting at 10% on Feb. 1 and rising to 25% on June 1, if a deal is not reached that allows Washington to “buy” Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory that’s part of Denmark.
The proposed tariffs would target Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland, Trump said. European leaders have hit back against the tariffs and have called for more dialogue with the U.S.
On Tuesday, Trump also threatened to slap 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne after France’s President Emmanuel Macron was reported to be unwilling to join his “Board of Peace” on Gaza.
Speaking to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick and Karen Tso at the World Economic Forum’s flagship conference in Davos, Switzerland, Georgieva urged policymakers to take a pragmatic approach to applying country-specific tariffs — but conceded that Europe is not using its economic might to win leverage on the global geopolitical stage.
