The strategy behind it is easy to see: play for time with symbolic numbers. The EU did the same in the customs dispute with Trump. First of all, get to the midterm elections in November 2026 and hope for new majorities in the US Parliament.
The first Democrats have already announced their opposition to Trump’s Greenland and customs plans. But it’s getting close. The threatened Greenland tariffs could rise from 10 to 25 percent as early as June. The president is picking up the pace. Also in Greenland.
“We tried flattery, distraction and negotiations and hoped that the tornado would pass,” said Steven Everts, head of the EU Institute for Security Studies, disappointedly in the Financial Times.
Many in Europe are losing patience with Donald Trump. “It looks like the days of trying to appease Trump are over,” the Financial Times quoted a senior EU diplomat as saying.
French head of state Macron is bringing another option into play. This was confirmed by those around him. Insiders call it the “trading bazooka” for short. The tool is called a “coercive measures instrument,” and is also called the “anti-coercion instrument” in Brussels bureaucratic corridors.
The law can be activated in cases of unfair trading practices. The “bazooka” can ban US products from the EU market and extends to the exclusion of US goods from public contracts in the EU. This could be particularly painful for the US defense industry.
