00:00closer. Let's go to our Brussels correspondent, Dave Keating, who's awaiting us. Dave,
00:05pleasure to have you on the program, as always. Europe united, it seems we're hearing. This is
00:10quite an achievement by Trump, isn't it, to unite Europe in this way?
00:16Yes and no. I mean, I think as the reality sets in here, we're getting signs of splits between
00:23European leaders. This was a head-spinning day of crisis meetings happening all over Europe,
00:29and that is a head of the Davos World Economic Forum, at which European leaders are going to
00:35be meeting with Donald Trump over the next two days. And that's going to be followed by an
00:40emergency European Council summit of EU prime ministers and presidents happening on Thursday.
00:46That was just called last night. That's happening in person in Brussels. The key question that needs
00:52to be resolved is whether Europe is going to threaten to use the anti-coercion instrument
00:57against the United States if Trump goes ahead with these tariffs. We've had the government of France
01:03very clearly saying that, yes, this must be on the table to deter the United States. Today,
01:10we had the German finance minister speaking next to his counterpart from France, seeming to sign up to
01:16that, seeming to say that, yes, Germany also says that this so-called nuclear option, as some are calling
01:22it, should be on the table at that summit on Thursday. However, then later in the day, German
01:28chancellor Friedrich Merz seemed to be backing away from that, saying that he wants to have
01:32negotiations with Trump when he speaks to him in Davos. Then we had Italy's Georgia Maloney,
01:38seeming to come out against the use of the anti-coercion instrument, trying, it seems, to make excuses for
01:44Donald Trump, saying that this was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication about why these European troops
01:51went to Greenland. Then we've had leaders in Eastern Europe siding with Donald Trump, notably Slovakia's
01:57prime minister Robert Fico, who went to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend and dined with Trump, the Czech
02:03prime minister also seeming to side with Trump over his European allies. So as the course of the day
02:09went on, we really saw more and more divisions emerging in Europe over this. That is interesting that
02:15you see the, I suppose it's the usual suspects in many ways, sort of siding with Trump, talking about
02:19FISO and his well-publicized views on Donald Trump and his politics. But I'm wondering if Europe would
02:27have the, I suppose the word is the guts to exercise that nuclear option, because it would be something
02:33from which there will be no turning back, would it not? That's the big question. Yeah, because
02:41Europeans will be hurt by this as well, if this is activated. There will be blowback. There's a couple
02:47of different options here. So there's that anti-coercion instrument that I talked about.
02:50There is also the still standing retaliatory list of tariffs on $92 billion worth of U.S. products.
02:58That could kick in on February 6th, because actually that trade deal, so-called trade deal,
03:04between President von der Leyen and President Trump struck last July still hasn't been ratified by the
03:09parliament and probably will not be at this point. So they can just go with those retaliatory tariffs.
03:14They can also tariff U.S. services imports. But all of that is kind of mutually assured destruction. It
03:22would have major, major impacts on the U.S. economy, but also on the European economy. So they are really
03:28keen to avoid that. Now, a commission official today at the press briefing with journalists really stressed
03:35what this is all about. He said, this is really about making the threat. They do not want to use this
03:41because of the blowback that would happen. The point is simply that when this trade instrument
03:47was devised, they were actually a China in mind for who this would be used against. And the whole
03:53point is to have it there as a threat to deter a hostile foreign actor from making coercive threats
04:00using trade. So there's a lot of voices saying that, yes, this has to be on the table.
04:05If this isn't coercion, what is? I mean, it really is the dictionary definition of coercion.
04:10Nevertheless, we have the leaders of Eastern European countries, Italy, really sounding reticent
04:16about this, and also German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He said all options are on the table,
04:21but then seemed to really be sounding very cautious about even threatening to use these instruments that
04:28the EU does have. And these instruments can really hurt the United States if they have the guts,
04:34as you said, to use them. Davos is going to be interesting, Dave. Thank you very much indeed
04:39for giving us that context. Essential, as always, Dave Keating, our Europe correspondent, excuse me,
04:44our Brussels correspondent, giving us that insight into what might or might not happen next. Dave,
04:50as always. Thank you.
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