President Trump told those gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he would not use force to take Greenland, and the world breathed a sigh of relief. But he is still pushing tariffs on Europe if Denmark refuses to sell its territory to the U.S.
Trump’s plan has outraged European leaders. “Being a happy vassal is one thing. Being a miserable slave is something else,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump’s “endless accumulation of new tariffs” were “fundamentally unacceptable.” Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the EU to become “independent” from the U.S. and to make that independence “permanent.”
But does Europe have enough economic weaponry to force the White House to think again?
Maybe, according to Wall Street analysts.
Here are seven ways the E.U. could hurt the U.S. economically if Trump refuses to take “no” for an answer on Greenland, according to research by George Saravelos of Deutsche Bank, Joachim Klement of Panmure Liberum, Macquarie’s Thierry Wizman and Gareth Berry, and Pantheon Macreconomics’ Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen.
