Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said that “everything is on the table” when it comes to how Europe could respond if the US were to “annex” Greenland or part of the territory, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTE News, Harris said any European response would be proportionate, but he cautioned against becoming caught in a “spiral” of “tit-for-tat tariffs”.
“Ireland wants to find a way forward, so does Europe, but everything is on the table should we see a situation where the United States of America intends to annex in some manner or means, Greenland, reports RTE.
“We have to be absolutely crystal clear on that. At the end of the day, you have to have values, you have to have principles.
“President Trump does not hold all the cards here, the EU, when it acts together, is a powerful economic block,” he said, reports RTE.
The Tánaiste said that any form of annexation of Greenland, regardless of how it might occur, would in his view represent a “Rubicon moment”, reports RTE.
“And the risk there is that that would cause a spiralling effect, a chain of events which could cause significant financial damage to European economies and to the US economy,” he added, reports RTE.
“We’re clearly on team Europe, we’re in the European Union, we’re sitting around the table,” he added, reports RTE.
Ireland facing ‘grave moment’ in US relationship – Taoiseach
Earlier, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Ireland and the EU are facing a “grave moment” in their relationship with the US.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions, Mr Martin said the economic relationship between Ireland and the US is “critical”, reports RTE.
“We have to do everything we possibly can to protect the jobs that depend on it, without sacrificing basic principles,” he said.
“We have to be clear-eyed about what is at stake and it’s very serious,” he said, reports RTE.
Europe will adopt a “firm, principled and robust stance”, Mr Martin added.
“We have to be very clear-eyed about what is at stake, and it is very serious. It is a grave moment for the transatlantic relationship, reports RTE.
“Europe will be strong and unified, and the principle of European Union solidarity is absolutely key here,” he said, reports RTE.
He said it would be preferable for the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.
“If the US wants to arbitrarily tear up an agreement, that’s a matter for the US.
“But Europe should be very clear. We entered into an agreement. We want to honour agreements that we entered into,” he said, reports RTE.
The Taoiseach added that a trade war would be extremely damaging.
“A trade war would be very, very damaging indeed to workers across Europe, workers across the United States and indeed the world,” he said, reports RTE.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee earlier said that Mr Trump’s tariff threats would “rip up” an EU-US trade deal agreed last year.
Speaking as she arrived at a Cabinet meeting this morning, Ms McEntee said the situation was “deeply regrettable”, reports RTE.
The comments came as Mr Trump and other world leaders travelled to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
Ms McEntee told reporters that support for Greenland and Denmark was “absolute”, reports RTE.
She said that if the proposed tariffs are introduced, €93 billion worth of countermeasures would be “back on the table”, as the EU would need to “respond strongly”.
She stressed that it was “really important” to intensify efforts to “engage in dialogue” with the US in the coming days, while also ensuring there were “a number of possible options to respond” if the threats materialise, reports RTE.
Ms McEntee said: “Of course, a threat of tariffs on eight member states is essentially a threat of tariffs on all member states, and it would be hugely regrettable for last year’s deal between the US and the EU to essentially be ripped up,” reports RTE.
She said the tariff threat would not weaken “the overall resolve of Europe in support for Greenland”.
“It is utterly regrettable that a president of the US would say that they’re not focused on peace, but we need to engage, we need to use our voice, as we always have in Ireland, to try and bring reason and to try and bring calm to the current situation,” she said, reports RTE.
Earlier, Mr Harris said the coming days would be “crucial” for EU-US relations.
He had been in Brussels attending a Eurogroup meeting and told reporters there was “not an hour to spare” as efforts continued to ease tensions, reports RTE.
He said: “It’s absolutely important that intensive diplomatic efforts are put under way to try and de-escalate an extraordinarily dangerous economic situation.
“We all know that tariffs are bad for the Irish economy, they’re bad for the European economy, they’re bad for the US economy as well. But this is now deeper than that also,” he said, reports RTE.
‘We cannot negotiate on territorial integrity’
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said that “we should not and cannot negotiate on territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
“The fact that President Trump is potentially going to escalate a serious deterioration in relations between the EU and the US only feeds into other countries that want to see Atlantic unity divided,” he said, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One, Mr Chambers said Ireland wants to see “constructive dialogue and de-escalation”.
“The EU has an ability to escalate if that’s what occurs from a trade perspective. We need to have respect for the European Union and its function in the context of the world.
The EU has to stand up for its own principles in terms of international law, democratic principles and territorial integrity, which are critical to a functioning world overall and deterioration around that is really worrying,” he said, reports RTE.
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