US and EU must work on their relationship after tensions over Greenland – Taoiseach

Micheál Martin urges Europe and the US to 'breathe new life' into their relations after talks on Greenland went down to the wire 

Micheál Martin said any undermining of the interdependence between the EU and US 'would have very serious repercussions for European citizens and for American citizens'. File picture

The Taoiseach is urging Europe and the US to “breathe new life” into relations between the two after a tense week of talks that went down to the wire over the fate of the Danish protectorate of Greenland.

Micheál Martin was speaking in Brussels for an emergency meeting of EU leaders organised in the wake of US president Donald Trump’s threat to levy 10% tariffs on seven EU members and the UK.

Mr Trump was angered by the deployment of a small number of forces from eight European states for a reconnaissance mission in Greenland.

“The US-EU relationship is still a very critical relationship, economically, politically, geopolitically, so both sides have to work extremely hard to maintain that relationship and to breathe new life into it,” Mr Martin said on the margins of the summit.

EU states wanted to hit back 

The US move stirred up angry responses from some EU member states, such as France which wanted to respond with reciprocal tariffs, and potentially the triggering of the EU’s anti-coercion instrument (ACI).

After a series of processes, the ACI would capture US investments and potentially deny US companies access to the EU market for services and joint procurement as part of the countermeasures.

And on Tuesday, the European Parliament voted to suspend the EU-US trade agreement negotiated last summer, which saw EU tariffs of 15% on a vast number of European exports to the US.

Jens Kjeldsen chats with a police officer outside the US consulate in Nuuk. Carrying the flags of Greenland and the Faroe Islands and the Danish maritime ensign, the 70-year-old carpenter and former judge is taking part in daily protests against the US administration’s bid to take over the Arctic island. Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty

However, EU leaders are now expected to push the parliament for the deal to get back on track, given the apparent resolution of the Greenland issue.

Mr Martin warned that any threat to undermine EU-US relations further would have serious consequences for jobs and trade in Ireland and across Europe. He said: 

The interdependence economically is so strong and so vast that any undermining of that would have very serious repercussions for European citizens and for American citizens.

The Taoiseach also spoke to the solidarity among EU countries for Denmark in defending its territorial integrity in the midst of a potential conquest by the US — either by military or coercive means.

“Europe, on this occasion, has first of all demonstrated commendable unity, firmness, principled position in terms of sovereignty of nations and territorial integrity,” he said.

“I think sensible, common sense prevailed."