Emmanuel Macron erupts at Trump’s tariff ‘intimidation’ as he threatens coordinated European response
French President Emmanuel Macron branded Donald Trump‘s threat of tariffs as ‘unacceptable’, while hinting at a united European response.
The president said on Saturday that France, alongside seven other European nations, would face tariffs if they didn’t greenlight his plans to takeover Greenland.
In a post to his X Macron fired back at Trump saying a united response from the eight would follow should the tariffs come to fruition.
Macron also mentioned his commitment to supporting Ukraine in his post in which he promised to uphold the ‘sovereignty and independence of Nations’ around the world.
He said: ‘No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations.
‘Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond to them in a united and coordinated manner if they were to be confirmed.
‘We will know how to uphold European sovereignty.’
Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands will be hit by a 10 percent levy on ‘any and all goods’ entering the US from February 1, Trump announced on Truth Social on Saturday.
Trump has frequently went after his NATO allies on spending over the years with his post saying the US had ‘subsidized all of the European Union’ over the years. He said that if no deal was reached by June 1, the tariff will increase to 25 percent.
Macron fired back at Trump saying a united response from the eight would follow should the tariffs come to fruition
Trump announced on Saturday morning that eight European countries would face tariffs if they didn’t agree to let him take Greenland
Like Macron, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had some strong words for the commander-in-chief.
In a post to X, he said: ‘We will not let ourselves be blackmailed. Only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.
‘I will always stand up for my country, and for our allied neighbors. This is an EU issue that affects many more countries than those now being singled out.
‘Sweden is now having intensive discussions with other EU countries, Norway, and the United Kingdom for a coordinated response.’
NATO countries are required to hand over 2 percent of their GDP, with the US forming the backbone of the alliances spending.
In 2025, the combined military spending of NATO states reached approximately 1.5 trillion dollars, with the US alone accounting for over 900 billion dollars of that total.
NATO members were previously expected to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense, a number Trump had long argued should be higher, leading to a new 5% target by 2035 being agreed upon at last year’s NATO Summit.
In military power, NATO as a whole dominates Russia. As of 2025, the alliance had around 3.5 million active military personnel compared with Russia’s 1.32 million.
NATO countries collectively have more than 22,000 aircrafts compared to Russia’s 4,292, as well as 1,143 military ships compared with their 400.
The president, who referred to himself as ‘the tariff king,’ called on Denmark to relinquish the mineral-rich territory by claiming world peace is at stake on Saturday.
‘Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!’ Trump wrote.
‘Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake.’
Trump said that the eight countries had been targeted in direct response to them sending troops to Greenland in the last few days.
The president added that ‘on top of everything else’ the eight countries ‘have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown.’
‘This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable,’ Trump wrote.
‘Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question.’
The president has invoked tariffs largely under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
His administration’s use of the act has been challenged repeatedly and several courts have found his use of it unlawful.
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver a ruling soon on the legality of his IEEPA tariffs. He said on Friday that if he lost the case it would severely impact his agenda.
Nations including France, Germany and Sweden have deployed a small number of troops to the territory in response to Trumps rhetoric in the last few days.
That mission, named Operation Arctic Endurance, was stepped up on Friday with Danish F-35 fighter jets conducting training over southeast Greenland.
A French MRTT tanker also conducted air-to-air refueling after departing its base in southern France, where it returned after completing the training.
On Friday he had threatened to slap tariffs on, ‘countries that don’t go along with Greenland’ on Friday, and added that the US may back out of NATO if the acquisition wasn’t agreed.
Trump claims his fixation with acquiring the territory is a matter of US national security.
He said: ‘We need Greenland for national security very badly. If we don’t have it we have a very big hole in terms of national security, especially in terms of the Golden Dome.’
The Golden Dome is a proposed multi-layer missile defense system which the president says is reliant on seizing control of Denmark’s Arctic territory.
