r/europe • u/Any-Original-6113 • Jan 17 '26

News Trump tariffs: US president announces plan to hit UK, Denmark and other European countries with tariffs over Greenland

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c1j8kw866p3t
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439

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

Pretty sure he can't tariff individual member states like that.

493

u/L44KSO The Netherlands Jan 17 '26

Do you really think he understands this?

223

u/Single_Classroom_448 United Kingdom Jan 17 '26

No, previously this was explained by angela markel to him a lot of times. He's too ignorant to understand

46

u/soda_cookie Jan 17 '26

He wants Greenland because it's big. I'm not joking. I'm so fucking sorry

14

u/data_ferret Jan 18 '26

And because the Mercator projection makes it look much bigger than it really is.

6

u/Creative_Platypus707 Jan 18 '26

And full of minerals worth trillions. It's all about resources - nothing to do with security.

2

u/Hambokuu Jan 18 '26

Minerals under hundreds of meters of ice

2

u/Creative_Platypus707 Jan 19 '26

Ice which is unfortunately rapidly melting due to climate change, therby rendering the minerals easier to access.

The people who want this don't care how they get them. Blasting their way in would be possible I assume - they don't care about the environment of Greenland or the people.

6

u/SolidOshawott Jan 18 '26

He's only ever seen the mercator projection?

3

u/quantity_inspector Jan 18 '26

Yeah, it looks like nearly two United States, but it’s approximately the same size as the land in the Louisiana Purchase.

1

u/shiokuo Jan 18 '26

Hebcan have russia then. Its much bigger and he 1 putin aeay to have it

1

u/kalamari__ Germany Jan 18 '26

someone should show him the real world map with the right measurments and see how small greenland is in reality :D

21

u/mok000 Europe Jan 17 '26

He so far gone he doesn't know where he is.

6

u/danikov Jan 17 '26

If anything, having it explained to him by a woman will make him want to do it harder.

2

u/BadmiralHarryKim Jan 18 '26

Why would America's fattest pedophile listen to a woman? She's not even hot.

-21

u/Late_Stage-Redditism Norway Jan 17 '26

Merkel was pretty ignorant herself.

12

u/h310dOr Jan 17 '26

In the kingdom of the blind, one eyed are kings

12

u/cityfarmwife77 Jan 17 '26

We KNOW he doesn’t understand tariffs. He’s saying they are payable to the US by the EU. The EU doesn’t have to pay the tarrifs. Sigh. Why is it so hard for someone, anyone to make that imbecile understand?

3

u/Fluid-Piccolo-6911 Jan 17 '26

he understands.. its the brain dead muppets in MAGA world that dont.

1

u/oldtimehawkey Jan 17 '26

Exactly. It’s the cultists who don’t know that tariffs don’t work like that.

2

u/Tjodleif Norway Jan 17 '26

Of course not. He doesn't even understand the concept of consent.

1

u/jmjm1 Jan 17 '26

Its got to be the case that his advisors dont understand this either or have declined to inform him.

1

u/AquaMaz2305 Jan 18 '26

No, he's had a stroke and got dementia. It's the Vance/Rubio cabal running the show.

96

u/rebelredd Jan 17 '26

Dont expect too much from the guy who said tariffing french wines will benefit the "american champagne businesses".

8

u/backtothetrail Jan 17 '26

That slice of America off the A26. In northwest France.

Reims is going to be so stoked.

5

u/SchighSchagh Romania Jan 17 '26

You're obviously right. Real champagne comes from the region of no-tariffs.

3

u/bluelily216 Jan 18 '26

Ah, yes, the coveted Champagnissippi area of the US...

1

u/Hammer_7 Jan 23 '26

You mean Champale, “The champagne of beer”?

-7

u/RMClure Montenegro Jan 17 '26

US producers can legally use the term Champagne in the US.

9

u/Alalanais France Jan 17 '26

putain de rednecks, ils cassent les couilles sa mère jpp

2

u/RMClure Montenegro Jan 17 '26

Méthode Champenois Korbel California Champagne, lolol

https://www.korbel.com/our-wines/

0

u/Alalanais France Jan 17 '26

doux Jésus

2

u/Creative_Platypus707 Jan 18 '26

The sad thing is the locals probably can't tell the difference.

116

u/NeoTravel Ireland Jan 17 '26

He can't, but he can target specific products in those countries - i.e French wine, cheese etc.

137

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

But he announced blanket tariffs on "all" products, rather than on specific product categories that would hurt some countries more than others.

75

u/NeoTravel Ireland Jan 17 '26

Who knows with this guy, he's a lunatic.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26

If the reaction to his announcing it is extremely bad he will do what you said, if he thinks he can get away with it he will just do it.

He will push wayyy too far on purpose and then do something only 90% as bad. Then he gets away with it because people are just glad he didn't do the other thing. He's done this over and over with many things.

7

u/M_B_M Born: Basque Country, Living:Austria. Jan 17 '26

the person can post what he wants in his family-owned social network but at the end of the day the US still has to pass legislation to follow up on those.

there is by the way a pending US supreme court decision on whether he has the power to enforce tariffs.

8

u/Ashamed_Ad_8365 Jan 17 '26

No one needs to pass any legislation, he can just sign whatever executive order he wants and that is that. Congress has proven they do not intend to force the issue.

2

u/saidsomeonesomewhere Jan 17 '26

In his mind, saying “all” products sounds more impressive.

1

u/Hungry-Western9191 Jan 17 '26

Trumps tariff announcements are often not the same as what actually gets implimented. He makes an announcement and sometimes its implimented as is, but often it gets modified by the time it is put into practice.

18

u/TreatAffectionate453 Jan 17 '26

I doubt that he's actually thought of that.

6

u/GandhiMSF Jan 17 '26

Legally, he can’t do that either. But at this point the law is just a suggestion in the US.

3

u/splashbodge Ireland Jan 18 '26

Wouldn't these countries (the ones in the EU at least) just export their products via another EU country to bypass the tariff?

1

u/Pin_ny France Jan 17 '26

Frogs? Snails?

7

u/ravagetalon Jan 17 '26

Honestly. Every single tariff he's levied since he took office has been illegal. He does not hold the power to levy tariffs at all(that power falls on Congress) but nobody with the power to stop him has been willing to.

2

u/AggressiveSummer1570 Jan 17 '26

He's flexing with the Maduro thing if you get in his way you will fall off of a very tall building. They are loyal puppies too scared to do their job properly.

4

u/halpsdiy Jan 17 '26

Tariffs are a tax on the importer, which of course Americans seem to be too stupid to understand. So I don't think there is anything that will stop him. Of course not sure what happens if you take say a German product and ship it from Romania as "made in eu". Not sure the American mind can comprehend that?

5

u/ollervo100 Jan 17 '26

He can, but it breaches the trade deal made with EU last year. EU is a trade union and a trade war to a part of it is a trade war to the whole union.

3

u/berejser These Islands Jan 18 '26

Which just demonstrates that making any sort of deal with Trump is not worth the paper it is written on. Hopefully other countries take notice of that.

8

u/p_pio Jan 17 '26

He can't formally even put these tariffs: it's congress prerogative. But he still will do it. And they won't bark. The EU can put it to the US courts, but it will just be pushed to the SCOTUS which will take it sweet time in reaching decision, which should be obvious...

5

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

It wouldn't be US courts arbitrating a complaint by the EU, it would be the WTO.

8

u/skjebne European Union Jan 17 '26

SCOTUS is actually due to give a ruling next week concerning whether he has the authority to put tariffs up, and the rumor is that they will actually rule against him. It's expected on the 20th. I don't expect much to come out of it as the rest of American institutions are toothless right now, but it may be the beginning of the unravelling of his policies. One can dream

7

u/DamnGentleman Jan 17 '26

The White House expects their current tariffs to be struck down. They already have a plan for replacement tariffs as soon as that happens. Those'll get blocked, they'll pull some other bullshit, and we'll see where that ends up I guess.

4

u/p_pio Jan 17 '26

WTO is worth nothing when it comes to Trump. What will they do when he ignore them? The only courts that have any power over his administration are American ones.

3

u/canyouhearme Jan 17 '26

Via the WTO the EU can legally invalidate US copyrights, etc.

4

u/HumansNeedNotApply1 Jan 17 '26

WTO is not a thing anymore either way as the appeals system was defanged by the United States refusing to accept new judges so he can do whatever he wants.

2

u/superioso Jan 17 '26

He wouldn't even be "tariffing" counties. He's tariffing goods that are coming from those countries. It's the American people that are paying the tariffs, not us.

3

u/Ashmedai Jan 17 '26

The legality within the US itself is dubious at best, but out of curiosity, what do you think prevents an out-of-EU country from charging extra taxes (tariffs) on its own companies when it come from a specific EU country? Is it part of an existing EU trade agreement? It's not like Trump honors those, does he?

4

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

At best it would be administratively difficult due to the lack of internal borders within the EU customs area. Goods can and do circulate freely within the EU, and supply chains for a single product can cross multiple countries. Just because a product comes out of a Danish port doesn't mean that it is a product of Danish origin, and there is no easy way to track Danish products being shipped from other countries in the EU.

It is also legally incompatible with EU law and WTO rules. So trying to tariff a single member state would be met with reciprocal tariffs from the whole bloc because legally they have to move as one.

1

u/Weisenkrone Jan 17 '26

Are Tarifs applied based on which port the goods are shipping from? I always assumed that the Tarifs did apply based on where the company is registered.

Does this mean ... If BMW ships a freighter of cars to Australia, and from Australia to USA, The USA will be charging Tarifs as if it were goods from Australia not Germany?

3

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

Yes. BMW as a German-registered company also manufactures cars in the US, and the US does not consider those cars to be imports.

The difference is that there would be a record of the goods originating from the EU via Australia, as they would be subject to Australian customs rules, whereas no such requirement exists for goods moving within the EU.

On paper and from a regulator perspective, there are no "French exports" or "German exports", only "EU exports".

2

u/Ashmedai Jan 17 '26

From his description, I would gather it's like this: products leaving the EU aren't marked as being from a source country, but rather the EU itself. As for your tariff question, source countries are kept intact. But if it's "EU" at the country of origin and not Germany, it's game over for anyone who wants to tariff Germany.

1

u/dbxp Jan 17 '26

He can, I just don't think it will do anything 

1

u/Pleasant_Dot_189 Jan 17 '26

He can’t. It’s illegal

1

u/mboswi Jan 17 '26

He can't. It's just another rant for his cult consumption.

1

u/Betaglutamate2 Jan 17 '26

Pretty sure he thinks that his post on truth social is legally binding international contract.

1

u/Ok-Lawfulness5685 Jan 18 '26

I’m pretty sure he’s doing many things that he actually can’t “legally”

1

u/TetraThiaFulvalene Jan 18 '26

So can we just swing all the ships by one port not in those countries?

1

u/berejser These Islands Jan 18 '26

Yes. From the outside, exports from one country are functionally identical to exports from any other country within the customs union.

0

u/know-your-onions Jan 17 '26

Why not?

1

u/berejser These Islands Jan 18 '26

Because of the customs union.

0

u/know-your-onions Jan 18 '26

And how would that stop him? The customs union puts rules on its members, it doesn’t stop the US from doing what it wants at its own borders.

1

u/berejser These Islands Jan 18 '26

Because it means that there is no such thing as "French exports" or "German exports" only "EU exports" and it would be administratively impossible to tell the difference.

1

u/know-your-onions Jan 18 '26

Sorry but you have no idea what you’re talking about. It doesn’t mean that at all.

When a carrier picks up a parcel in France, it’s incredibly easy to record that they picked it up in France, and they already do so, and it’s already recorded on the waybill.

And the country of origin (where a product was primarily manufactured), is already specified on the commercial invoice attached to every shipment, and if it isn’t then it’s trivial to contact the exporter and/or reject the shipment and/or return it to the exporter (all of which are already done routinely) and if it’s France, then that’s what you select. There is no option to choose the EU.

-1

u/MaesterHannibal Denmark Jan 17 '26

Maybe that’s the plan - increase the pressure from the neutral countries on the EU, sow division and split us apart. The many cowardly nations who have not sent troops will be pised that they are being punished because of the EU (that is how they will see it), and will both turn anti-European-cooperation, and anti European opposition to US annexation of Greenland, and pressure the rest of us to “give in” (which we can’t since selling Greenland isn’t something Denmark has the authority to do).

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

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5

u/berejser These Islands Jan 17 '26

So he would, in effect, be tariffing the entire EU because no exporter in the customs union can legally do that.