Name: European People's Party: Not yet the time for 'trade bazooka' | DW News
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Here with me is David Mac Allister, member of the European People's Party and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

Thank you for joining us, Mr. Mac Allister.

Adverbs of degree

Just last week you've still voiced opposition to freezing the US trade deal, wanting to keep channels to Washington open.

Now, over the weekend, the US President has unilaterally escalated the situation with his announcement of tariffs on multiple European countries.

Now your group is in support of freezing the.

Would you say that the time for appeasement politics is over?

Well, obviously the circumstances have changed fundamentally.

And that's why my group, and also myself, I support that.

The European Parliament will not greenlight the EU US trade deal which was found last summer in Scotland, simply as long as the US President is threatening with unlawful tariffs against allies and partners, the conditions are simply not there.

That is the major difference between last week and this week.

One option for the EU to play hardball now would be the anti coercion instrument, also known as the trade bazooka.

Your group has voiced hesitance to take this step.

The high representative and Vice President Kayakalas just said that the European Union will remain calm on the one hand, and

on the other hand we will hold our ground.

And this is exactly what the debate is all about.

We are in favour of dialogue and cooperation with the US administration, but

And that's why, on the other hand, we have to be very clear and principled in our position.

That means solidarity with our EU and NATO member state, the Kingdom of Denmark.

The future of Greenland will be decided by the people of Greenland in Greenland in close cooperation with Copenhagen.

The European leaders will meet on Thursday evening.

I expect them to have a thorough discussion about what has happened in the last few days.

This is a substantial challenge, a substantial crisis for the NATO alliance, undoubtedly.

And then the European Commission will present a few options we have.

I just mentioned the first option, that the European Parliament will not greenlight the EU US trade deal.

The second option is that we had already agreed upon counter tariffs worth 93 billion euros six months ago.

This pause is expiring at the beginning of February.

So this will be a rather simple way to retaliate, targeting important US products like brandy or jeans or Harley Davidson motorcycles, just to name a few.

Let's not forget the European Union is the world's largest single market and Very attractive, not only for American products, but

And then we have the antiquation instrument that is, as they call it in Brussels, the bazooka.

That is an instrument which has never been used, but

it was shaped and designated for a situation where you might feel face economic political blackmail.

This is to be decided by the 27 heads of state and government.

In the moment, I see that there are different opinions among the 27 member states.

Hopefully we'll have more clarity after Thursday evening.

Well, starting the procedure of even establishing whether there's coercion might take up to four months.

Would it possibly make sense to already start this period now, just leaving aside for now if you are actually going to use it or not?

The anti coercion instrument is one possible option.

Of course, it is a politically fundamental option.

That means it would require the large majority of member states supporting this.

Let's wait and see what happens on Thursday evening.

And indeed, starting the process is the one thing.

Until it's fully functional will take weeks or even months.

Nobody in the European Union, at least nobody who has his senses together, is interested in escalating this conflict with the United States.

We are interested in de escalation and we call on the US Side to come back to where we were before.

We in the NATO alliance and we in the transatlantic alliance, we respect international law, and

this includes the territorial sovereignty and integrity of Greenland.

There cannot be a debate about this, full stop.

We're hearing from Davos now that Trump is in fact open to talks on Greenland.

What if he continues his threats on the island?

What would that mean for NATO and other transatlantic alliances?

Well, we should use every opportunity to talk to the US Side, not only to the president, but

also to important lawmakers and government officials.

I mean, what I am witnessing is in Washington, there is increasing criticism of President Trump's course on Greenland more and more.

Also, Republican lawmakers are going public saying that this is not the right way forward.

The latest poll I saw was that 80% of the US Americans are strictly against the unlawful annexation of Greenland.

And the US Citizens see that this is also harming their own interest because tariffs and retaliatory tariffs are in the end paid by the citizens and the consumers every opportunity we should use also to engage with President Trump directly.

And, yes, there are security concerns in the wider Arctic, including Greenland.

And these security concerns need to be addressed.

But NATO is the format, NATO is the formation where these security concerns need to be addressed.

And the Kingdom of Denmark has invited the US to engage military wise in Greenland.

The Americans used to have much more troops in Greenland.

Now they only have one base left in northern Greenland.

If President Trump is so serious about these security concerns, then it's up to him also to step up the US Engagement in Greenland.

Denmark and all other NATO partners would welcome this.

David McAllister, European People's Party, thank you very much.