French President Emmanuel Macron has accused the United States of a "neo-colonial approach" in the Greenland dispute and of trying to weaken Europe, which he says could respond with economic measures.
US President Donald Trump has long used trade tariffs as an "economic weapon" and has now threatened to impose new tariffs on European countries that challenge his demand to buy the Arctic island of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous part of Denmark.
"Trump's new tariffs are completely unacceptable, all the more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty," Macron said today at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Earlier, Trump released private messages with Macron as the feud threatened to completely overshadow the Davos agenda.
"Faced with the brutalization of the world, France and Europe must defend effective multilateralism, as it serves our interests and those of all those who refuse to submit to the rule of force," he added.
The French president said the EU should use its Anti-Bribery Instrument to counter Trump's economic tariffs.
“Europe has very strong tools now, and we must use them when we are not respected and when the whole game is not respected. The Anti-Bribery Mechanism is a powerful instrument, and we should not hesitate to use it in today's difficult environment,” he said.
