00:00Here with me is David McAllister, member of the European People's Party and chair of the
00:04Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. Thank you for joining us. Mr. McAllister,
00:09just last week you've still voiced opposition to freezing the US trade deal, wanting to keep
00:15channels to Washington open. Now, over the weekend, the US president has unilaterally
00:20escalated the situation with his announcement of tariffs on multiple European countries.
00:25Now your group is in support of freezing the trade deal. Would you say that the time for
00:32appeasement politics is over? Well, obviously the circumstances have changed fundamentally
00:37and that's why my group and also myself, I support that the European Parliament will not greenlight
00:45the EU-US trade deal, which was found last summer in Scotland, simply as long as the US president
00:52is threatening with unlawful tariffs against allies and partners. The conditions are simply not there.
01:01That is the major difference between last week and this week.
01:06One option for the EU to play hardball now would be the anti-coercion instrument, also known as the
01:12trade bazooka. Your group has voiced hesitance to take this step. Why is that?
01:17The high representative and vice president Kaya Kalos just said that the European Union will remain calm on
01:23the one hand and on the other hand, we will hold our ground. And this is exactly what the debate is
01:28all about. We are in favour of dialogue and cooperation with the US administration, but this requires respect
01:34from the US side and this is lacking. And that's why on the other hand, we have to be very clear and principled
01:41in our position. That means solidarity with our EU and NATO member state, the Kingdom of Denmark,
01:48solidarity with Greenland. The future of Greenland will be decided by the people of Greenland in
01:53Greenland in close cooperation with Copenhagen and by nobody else. Greenland is not for sale.
01:59Now, how do we react? The European leaders will meet on Thursday evening, the 27 heads of state and
02:06government. I expect them to have a thorough discussion about what has happened in the last
02:10few days. This is a substantial challenge, a substantial crisis for the NATO alliance, undoubtedly.
02:18And then the European Commission will present a few options we have. I just mentioned the first option
02:22that the European Parliament will not greenlight the EU-US trade deal. The second option is that we had
02:29already agreed upon counter tariffs worth 93 billion euros six months ago. This pause is expiring at the
02:39beginning of February. So this would be a rather simple way to retaliate targeting important US products
02:47like brandy or jeans or Harley Davidson motorcycles, just to name a few. Let's not forget the European Union
02:54is the world's largest single market and very attractive, not only for American products, but especially for
03:00American services. So we have a lot to offer at this stage. And then we have the anti-cursion instrument that is,
03:08as they call it in Brussels, the bazooka. That is an instrument which has never been used, but it was shaped and
03:16designated for a situation where you might face economic political blackmail. Will this instrument be used or not?
03:25This is to be decided by the 27 heads of state and government. In the moment, I see that there are different
03:30opinions among the 27 member states. Hopefully, we'll have more clarity after Thursday evening.
03:37Well, starting the procedure of even establishing whether there's coercion might take up to four months.
03:43Would it possibly make sense to already start this period now, just leaving aside for now if you're actually going to use it or not?
03:51Well, I'm very pragmatic here. The anti-cursion instrument is one possible option. Of course, it is a politically
04:00fundamental option. That means it would require the large majority of member states supporting this.
04:06Let's wait and see what happens on Thursday evening. But certainly it is an option. And indeed,
04:11starting the process is the one thing until it's fully functional, will take weeks or even months. But I want to underline here once again,
04:20nobody in the European Union, at least nobody who
04:25has his senses together, is interested in escalating this conflict with the United States.
04:32We are interested in de-escalation and we call on the US side to come back
04:40to where we were before. And that one thing is clear. We in the NATO alliance and we in the transatlantic
04:49alliance, we respect international law. And this includes the territorial sovereignty and integrity of
04:54Greenland. There cannot be a debate about this full stop.
04:57We're hearing from Davos now that Trump is in fact open to talks on Greenland.
05:02But what if this doesn't work? What if he continues his threats on the island? What would that mean for
05:07NATO and other transatlantic alliances? Well, we should use every opportunity to talk to the US side,
05:13not only to the president, but also to important lawmakers and government officials.
05:17I mean, what I am witnessing is in Washington, there is increasing criticism of President Trump's
05:23course on Greenland. More and more also Republican lawmakers are going public saying that this is not
05:29the right way forward. And public opinion in America is clear. The latest poll I saw was that 80% of the US
05:35Americans are strictly against the unlawful annexation of Greenland. And the US citizens see that this is also
05:43harming their own interests because tariffs and retaliatory tariffs are in the end paid by the
05:49citizens and the consumers. Every opportunity we should use also to engage with President Trump directly.
05:58And yes, there are security concerns in the wider Arctic, including Greenland. And these security
06:04concerns need to be addressed. But NATO is the format. NATO is the formation where these security concerns
06:11need to be addressed. And the Kingdom of Denmark has invited the US to engage military wise in
06:19Greenland. The Americans used to have much more troops in Greenland. Now they only have one
06:24base left in northern Greenland. So the opportunities are there. If President Trump is so serious about
06:33the security concerns, then it's up to him also to step up the US engagement in Greenland. Denmark and all
06:40other NATO partners would welcome this. David McAllister, European People's Party. Thank you very much.
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