After Trump Salvo, Macron Says: We Don’t Give In To Bullies

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that Europe will not bow to bullies or be intimidated, slamming U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose high tariffs if Europe does not allow it to seize Greenland.

While other European leaders tried to use a measured tone to prevent the trans-Atlantic dispute from escalating, Macron lashed out.

France and Europe “will not passively accept the law of the strongest”, Macron said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that doing so would lead to their “vassalisation”.

Instead, he said Europe would continue to defend territorial sovereignty and the rule of law despite what he called a transition to a world without rules. This could include the EU responding with tough trade sanctions of its own.

“We prefer respect to tyrants,” Macron said. “And we prefer the rule of law to brutality.”

Macron wore aviator sunglasses during his speech at the Elysee Palace to protect his eyes from a burst blood vessel, he said.

He made his speech after Trump threatened massive tariffs on French wine and champagne and released private messages from Macron in an unusual breach of diplomatic discretion.

Trump had promised on Saturday that, starting on February 1, he would impose a wave of tariff increases on several European allies, including France, until the US was allowed to take Greenland, a step that major EU states described as blackmail.

Speaking in Davos, Macron said Washington’s “endless accumulation” of new tariffs was “fundamentally unacceptable” and “even more unacceptable when they are used as leverage against regional sovereignty.”

EU leaders decided to meet in Brussels on Thursday evening for an emergency summit in Greenland over the weekend.

Customs duties on 93 billion euros of US goods, which the EU shelved after Trump signed a trade deal with the bloc last summer, could come into force on February 6.

Macron also pressed the EU to consider the initial use of the Anti-Coercion Instrument, informally known as a “trade bazooka”, which could restrict US access to public tenders or restrict trade in services such as technology platforms. Macron said on Tuesday it was “crazy” to go that far.

The US president’s relationship with Europe as a whole has soured deeply as his push to wrest sovereignty over the Arctic island from fellow NATO member Denmark has rattled European industry and sent shockwaves through financial markets.

Trump was also irritated by France’s reluctance to join the Peace Corps, a new international organization that he would head. Paris expressed concern about the impact this would have on the role of the United Nations.

Asked about Macron’s stance on the Peace Board, Trump said late Monday: “I’m going to put a 200% tax on their wine and champagne, and he’ll participate, but he doesn’t have to participate.”

A few hours later, Trump posted a screenshot of his call with Macron on his Truth Social account.

In the conversation, which a source close to Macron said was genuine, Macron told Trump, “I don’t understand what you are doing in Greenland,” and offered to host a G7 meeting inviting Russia and others. Neither Trump nor the French source disclosed the date of the messages.

Macron confirmed that he did not plan to extend his stay in Davos until Wednesday, when Trump arrives in the Swiss mountain resort town.

“I don’t have to change my schedule,” he said, adding that his departure in the evening had been planned for a long time.

Macron, who will leave office in mid-2027, has been president of France since 2017. His relationship with Trump has been rocky since Trump’s first term, with Macron oscillating between sycophancy and harsh rhetoric.

French officials have long defended Macron’s efforts to contact Trump directly, saying they often made impromptu calls and exchanged messages outside official diplomatic channels.

People close to Macron said he was chosen by Trump because he defended democratic principles.

“France is becoming a target by leading the resistance,” Pieyre-Alexandre Langlade, a lawmaker in Macron’s camp, told Reuters.

(Reporting by Michel Rose in Davos, Additional reporting by Louise Rasmussen and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris, Chandni Shah and Subham Kalia in Bengaluru, Nandita Bose and Bo Erickson in Washington; Writing by Ingrid Melander, Editing by Andrew Heavens and Peter Graff)