“When targeted, unfairly or arbitrarily, the European Union will respond firmly,” she said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also weighed in: “We have to do everything to avoid this totally unnecessary and stupid tariff war or trade war.”
EU leaders also underlined that they will protect Greenland.
Von der Leyen did stress that the partnership with the U.S. “remains our most consequential relationship,” and offered a carrot in response to Trump’s pressure to increase defense spending. The bloc is ready to look at its fiscal rules “to allow for a significant increase in defense spending,” she said.
That follows demands from countries like Italy, Poland and the Baltics, which want defense spending not to count toward the EU’s deficit and debt limits.
Surprisingly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a leader of the fiscally conservative camp, said “there is a very widespread view that there must be more flexibility to finance the massive expansion of our defense investments, for example by borrowing.” However, he shot down calls for EU countries to issue joint debt to finance defense projects.
