{"id":57668,"date":"2026-01-20T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668"},"modified":"2026-01-20T01:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:00:53","slug":"scott-bessent-questions-europes-ability-to-agree-a-strong-response-to-greenland-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668","title":{"rendered":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\">Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=9f518c00-ce6c-46d0-8ffb-d32275e945d8&amp;newsletter-id=65b8fec772badb00166eafc6\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>The US Treasury secretary has dismissed the EU\u2019s ability to quickly agree a forceful response to Donald Trump\u2019s Greenland-related tariffs, predicting the bloc would likely form \u201cthe dreaded European working group\u201d rather than take rapid action.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Bessent suggested the 27-strong group of nations\u2019 slow decision-making would hamper its ability to put together a potent reaction or quickly wield the so-called anti-coercion instrument, its strongest trade measure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI imagine they will form the dreaded European working group first, which seems to be their most forceful weapon,\u201d Bessent told a small group of reporters in Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks suggest Washington is not seriously weighing the prospect of the EU deploying its most potent trade weapon, which would allow the bloc to restrict access to the single market for US companies.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent cited Europe\u2019s continuing purchases of Russian fuel, saying \u201ctheir speed of decision-making isn\u2019t always the fastest\u201d. The EU is aiming to phase out these imports from Russia by the end of 2027 after sharply reducing purchases.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s threat to impose 10 per cent tariffs on European states as he tries to \u201cacquire\u201d Greenland has raised the spectre of a trade war with the continent, plunging the transatlantic relationship into crisis. <\/p>\n<p>Bessent earlier on Monday warned the EU it would be \u201cunwise\u201d to hit back at Trump. The bloc is readying retaliatory tariffs on \u20ac93bn worth of US exports, which would likely come before any use of the anti-coercion instrument.<\/p>\n<p>The president is due in Davos on Wednesday, as European capitals debate their response. <\/p>\n<p>The Treasury secretary said a decision on the next chair of the US Federal Reserve was unlikely to come as soon as Trump\u2019s visit to the Swiss resort. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think next week,\u201d Bessent said, suggesting the administration plans to make an announcement by the end of January. <\/p>\n<p>Bessent brushed aside the prospect that a renewed trade conflict between the US and EU would undermine efforts to ease the cost of living for Americans. \u201cTariffs were the dog that didn\u2019t bark in terms of price increases,\u201d he said, citing subdued core goods inflation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs someone who was a professor of economic history at Yale I can tell you the [countries with a trade surplus] always get hit the worst in a trade war.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He added sales of US government bonds by European holders would be \u201cself-defeating\u201d, amid market speculation that this could form part of Europe\u2019s possible retaliation.<\/p>\n<p>European countries including the UK are hoping Trump can be pulled back from his threat to impose 10 per cent tariffs from February 1, which the president has said would stay in force until a deal is reached for the \u201cpurchase of Greenland\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if the US was open to a negotiated solution that fell short of taking control of Greenland, Bessent said: \u201cI would just take President Trump at his word for now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some investors have been diversifying away from US assets because of the policy volatility in Washington, among them bond group Pimco. Responding to these moves, Bessent said US Treasuries had performed strongly last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t speak to what they [Pimco] are saying but\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009the US actually had a fiscal contraction last year, as opposed to France which can\u2019t seem to get a budget,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9f518c00-ce6c-46d0-8ffb-d32275e945d8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the world The US Treasury secretary has dismissed the EU\u2019s ability to quickly agree a forceful response to Donald Trump\u2019s Greenland-related tariffs, predicting the bloc would likely form \u201cthe dreaded European working group\u201d rather than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-57668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prosfunds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/https3A2F2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net2Fproduction2Fab627722-f14a-42f5-9221-fd1679d42f4c.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bab8f1b00ccebe43e39ff640793108e6\"},\"headline\":\"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\"},\"wordCount\":597,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\",\"name\":\"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00\",\"description\":\"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/\",\"name\":\"Funding Factories\",\"description\":\"Latest Finance News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Funding Factories\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ff-dark-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ff-dark-logo-1.png\",\"width\":780,\"height\":140,\"caption\":\"Funding Factories\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bab8f1b00ccebe43e39ff640793108e6\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/avatar_user_1_1693518183-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/avatar_user_1_1693518183-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds","description":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds","og_description":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury","og_url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668","og_site_name":"Prosfunds","article_published_time":"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":394,"url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/https3A2F2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net2Fproduction2Fab627722-f14a-42f5-9221-fd1679d42f4c.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bab8f1b00ccebe43e39ff640793108e6"},"headline":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs","datePublished":"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668"},"wordCount":597,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668","url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668","name":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs | Prosfunds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-20T01:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-20T01:00:53+00:00","description":"Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump\u2019s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe US Treasury","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=57668#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scott Bessent questions Europe\u2019s ability to agree a strong response to Greenland tariffs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/","name":"Funding Factories","description":"Latest Finance News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#organization","name":"Funding Factories","url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ff-dark-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ff-dark-logo-1.png","width":780,"height":140,"caption":"Funding Factories"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bab8f1b00ccebe43e39ff640793108e6","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/avatar_user_1_1693518183-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/avatar_user_1_1693518183-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/prosfunds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57670,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57668\/revisions\/57670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}