According to a report by NBC News on Sunday 18 January, 2026, European officials are scrambling after President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to slap new tariffs on eight EU countries, tying the penalties to negotiations over a U.S. bid to buy Greenland. The move has triggered an emergency response in Brussels and sharp criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.
EU ambassadors are set to convene Sunday in Brussels for an urgent meeting, according to the rotating Cyprus presidency of the EU Council. The gathering follows Trump’s announcement that the tariffs would remain in place until European governments agree to talks allowing Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – to be sold to the United States.
Reaction was swift. Lawmakers in the European Parliament, along with several U.S. senators, described the plan as reckless and destabilizing, particularly given rising tensions in the Arctic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola warned that targeting NATO allies economically would weaken, not strengthen, collective security. She argued that the approach plays directly into the hands of rival powers and reiterated that both Denmark and Greenland have been clear about the territory’s status: it is not for sale, and its sovereignty must be respected.
From the European Commission, Estonia’s Kaja Kallas struck a similar tone, suggesting Moscow and Beijing stood to benefit most from public rifts among Western allies. She emphasized that Arctic security concerns should be addressed within NATO and cautioned that tariffs would ultimately leave both Europe and the U.S. worse off economically. Kallas also urged leaders not to let the dispute distract from supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Meanwhile, frustration is growing over a broader EU-U.S. trade agreement struck last summer. Although parts of the deal have already been rolled out, final approval still rests with the European Parliament. Several lawmakers now want that process frozen.
Bernd Lange, who chairs Parliament’s trade committee, accused Trump of turning trade policy into a tool of political pressure and said the EU could not simply carry on as if nothing had happened. He called for the trade deal’s implementation to be halted until Washington drops the tariff threats.
Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, said his group still favors closer trade ties with the U.S., but acknowledged that approval of the agreement is effectively off the table for now. Others, like Romanian lawmaker Siegfried Mureșan, argued that the main benefit of last year’s deal was stability – something he said Trump’s announcement had now erased.
National governments are weighing in as well. Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said The Hague was coordinating closely with the European Commission and allies, noting that military activities around Greenland are intended to bolster Arctic security, not inflame tensions.
Across the Atlantic, the backlash reached Capitol Hill. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, issued a joint statement while visiting Copenhagen with a bipartisan delegation. They warned that new tariffs would push up prices for American families and businesses and urged the administration to abandon threats in favor of diplomacy. The senators also stressed that the countries targeted are among America’s closest allies, bound by decades of shared sacrifice within NATO.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went further, promising that Democrats would move to block the tariffs legislatively before, as he put it, they inflict more harm on the U.S. economy and relationships in Europe. He called the policy misguided and said using tariffs to pursue control over Greenland defied common sense.
“Donald Trump’s foolhardy tariffs have already driven up prices and damaged our economy and now he is only making things worse,” Schumer wrote.
Similar efforts to curb Trump’s tariff authority have passed the Senate before with bipartisan backing, since they require only a simple majority. Even so, any new measure faces long odds in the House, where leadership is unlikely to bring it up for a vote.
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