Main Points

  • Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries are convening for an emergency meeting this afternoon over Donald Trump’s Greenland-related threats on tariffs.
  • Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said it had called the meeting, which EU diplomats said was to start at 4pm GMT.
  • The governments of the eight European countries threatened with US tariffs have criticised comments coming from Washington as a breach in Europe-US relations and warned of a “downward spiral”.

Key Reads

Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries are convening for an emergency meeting after US president Donald Trump vowed a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.

Cyprus, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said late on Saturday that it had called the meeting, which EU diplomats said was set to start at 4pm GMT.

Follow here for live updates.

Jade Wilson – 0 minutes ago

There will be growing calls in the coming days for the European Union to take its so-called “big bazooka” off the shelf and put it down on the negotiating table, Jack Power writes.

Valérie Hayer, a senior French MEP and ally of Emmanuel Macron, has called for the EU to trigger its anti coercion instrument (ACI), which would give the European Commission emergency powers to restrict US companies ability to operate in the EU market.

The ACI is intended as a way for the EU to fight back against economic coercion from another state. It has never been used before, and a months-long investigation by the commission would first be required to confirm such a response was justified.

Macron was known to have talked about turning to the nuclear option during tense periods of EU-US tariff negotiations last year. The Irish Government always opposed talk of reaching for the ACI, instead appealing for the EU to avoid antagonising the White House and to cut a deal sucking up 15 per cent tariffs last summer.

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews said the EU needed to stop its “appeasement” of Trump and use the anti coercion instrument to hit back.

“This would mean blocking US access to the lucrative EU market for certain goods and services such as the defence sector and public procurement market. President Trump only respects strength. We need to show him that enough is enough,” he said.

Jade Wilson – 10 minutes ago

European countries have jointly hit back at US president Donald Trump’s threatened new trade tariffs, warning the escalating dispute over Greenland risks heading into a “dangerous downward spiral”, our Europe Correspondent, Jack Power, writes.

The near unprecedented schism in transatlantic relations, caused by Mr Trump issuing fresh threats of steep tariffs on European allies if Greenland is not sold to the US, has prompted a diplomatic scramble by European capitals in the crosshairs.

In a joint statement, the governments of France, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, criticised the comments coming from Washington as a breach in Europe-US relations.

“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. We will continue to stand united and co-ordinated in our response. We are committed to upholding our sovereignty,” the statement said.

The involvement of troops from several European countries in a Danish military exercise in the Arctic was “pre-coordinated” and posed no threat to anyone, the governments said.

The European countries reaffirmed they would stand firmly behind the principles of “sovereignty and territorial integrity” in the Greenland dispute.

“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland,” the statement said.

Jade Wilson – 48 minutes ago

What is this meeting of EU ambassadors?

An emergency meeting gathering the ambassadors of the EU’s 27 states is taking place this evening in Brussels.

The ambassadors gather once or twice a week in the normal course of events, providing an important clearing house and cog in the EU policy making machine, where political decisions are teed up and compromises slowly worked out between the senior diplomats. Ireland will be represented at the meeting by Aingeal O’Donoghue, the State’s top EU diplomat.

The huddle, known as a Coreper meeting, was called at short notice, to allow EU governments to discuss Trump’s tariff threats, which ratcheted up the pressure in his bid for the US to take over Greenland.

The meeting is being held in “restricted” format, meaning a wider group of diplomats and officials that usually attend will not be able to observe the closed-door discussion. That could mean the level of information about the talks that we get after the meeting breaks up could be limited.

Jade Wilson – 2 hours ago

Jade Wilson – 2 hours ago

NATO Secretary ‍General Mark Rutte said on ‍Sunday that he had ‌spoken with U.S. ⁠President Donald Trump ‌about ​the ‍security situation in Greenland and ⁠the Arctic.

“We will ⁠continue working on ⁠this, and I ‍look forward to seeing him in Davos later this ‌week,” Rutte ‌wrote on social media platform ‌X.

Jade Wilson – 2 hours ago