Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick voiced confidence that the major trade agreement signed with the European Union last year would hold up amid the current turmoil.
President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs against several EU countries in response to their pushback against handing Greenland over to the United States have triggered outrage among the bloc, with some calling for the massive trade deal struck last year to be put on hold in response. Lutnick signaled he wasn’t concerned about that possibility in a Tuesday interview with CBS News at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I do not think that there is going to be an upending of any of the trade deals that we have made,” he said.
“There are things that we will argue about between our two countries, for sure, because that’s the way it works, with friends and allies,” Lutnick added. “But I would say Donald J. Trump understands what he wants, and he will talk to them, and they will work it out.”
“And I think the EU trade deal is solid, firm, and will continue,” he continued.
Europe has struggled to put together a proper response after Trump pressed his demands for Greenland earlier this month, after months of disinterest. His most recent push has been his most drastic, refusing to rule out the use of force and levying tariffs against countries that sent a small armed contingent to Greenland after his initial demand.
Lutnick said he believes the matter will be sorted out sooner rather than later.
“They haven’t thought about it at all. I think they will think about it more, and they will address it,” he said of the U.S.’s planned acquisition.
“You can have disagreements with your friends and allies. You can. And then eventually it’ll sort its way out,” Lutnick added. “I’m going to leave that to my national security people to address it with the Europeans.”
Several in the Trump administration, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have urged restraint from Europe, but the president’s rhetoric has triggered some of the most intense outrage across Europe since Trump took office.
The EU’s options for hitting back at Trump are limited, however, given the bloc’s security and economic reliance on the U.S., especially after its near complete decoupling from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that the bloc’s response would be “unflinching, united and proportional.”
This included jeopardizing the trade deal struck last year, she hinted.
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“In politics, as in business, a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something,” she said to applause.
Von der Leyen also signaled that the current rift would be permanent, arguing that there was now a “real consensus” around European “independence.”
