Tánaiste calls for ‘cool heads’ over Trump's threatened tariffs

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

US president Donald Trump has threatened tariffs with a “very significant destabilising effect”, the Tánaiste has said as he appealed for “cool heads” in negotiations between the EU and the US.

Mr Trump has said he would impose a 10 per cent tariff “on any and all goods” sent to the US from the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of whom are members of Nato – starting from February and increasing to 25 per cent from June unless Washington is enabled to purchase Greenland from Denmark.

The US president has not ruled out military action to gain control of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark.

Speaking to reporters at a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels, Simon Harris said: “The destabilising effects of the recent geopolitical developments could potentially be enormous.

“That’s why it’s more important than ever now that we seek dialogue – this is a time for cool heads.”

He added: “We worked very hard at an EU level to have a trade agreement in place with the United States of America, a trade agreement that will ensure economic activity can continue to flow across the Atlantic, a trade agreement that is good for the United States, good for Europe, good for Ireland.

“Anything that now moves away from that or deviates from that could have potentially very, very significant consequences.”

Mr Harris, who is also Finance Minister, said it was “really important that Europe stands united”.

“Europe will always stand with Greenland, will always stand with the kingdom of Denmark, we will always stand together for our values – and we want to have dialogue in a cool and calm way and use the window that is available.

“But we will, of course, prepare to respond accordingly should that be required.”

Meanwhile, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has also appealed for calm and said the use of tariffs against allies was “completely wrong”.

However, he insisted Mr Trump was not genuinely serious about the prospect of using military force to annex the territory.

Asked if Europe can afford a confrontation with the US, Mr Harris said the bloc was not “seeking confrontation with anybody” and criticised Mr Trump’s threatened tariffs.

“We can achieve so much more when we co-operate, when we collaborate. When Europe and the United States work together, it’s good for the EU and it’s good for the US.

“It’s President Trump who, in recent days, has decided to threaten Europe with additional tariffs, ones that have a very significant destabilising effect.

“The destabilising effect could potentially be enormous. The cascading effect could be very, very significant.”

Mr Harris said the EU did not “wish to see any deviation from” the agreement with the US, adding: “It’s very important now that we use the brief window available between now and the first of February to seek dialogue.

However, he said there was a need to “prepare for all eventualities”.