The Cold War comedy The Mouse That Roared imagined a minuscule state picking a fight with the United States to secure the spoils of defeat. Today, that satirical premise feels uncomfortably close to reality. Europe’s cautious show of solidarity with Denmark over Greenland, symbolic troop deployments and careful words, was meant to affirm alliance unity without provoking Washington. Instead, it seems to have emboldened the very behavior it sought to restrain.

The message from the White House has been unmistakable. Rather than backing down, Donald Trump has doubled down, escalating threats that mix geopolitics with tariffs, and sovereignty with salesmanship. Greenland, once a strategic backdrop to the Cold War, has become a bargaining chip. And Europe, once again, faces a choice between accommodation and resistance.

A Show of Force That Backfired

Europe’s initial response, sending a few dozen soldiers to Greenland, was calibrated to the millimeter. Support Denmark, yes; antagonize Washington, no. It was solidarity without escalation, symbolism without substance. The calculation assumed restraint would be reciprocated. It wasn’t.

Instead, tariffs were brandished like a cudgel: a proposed 10% duty on imports from the participating countries, rising to 25% unless Europe agreed to negotiations over Greenland’s fate. The list of targets, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, plus the UK and Norway, reads like a roll call of Washington’s closest partners. This is not trade policy; it is pressure politics.

The Cost of Compliance

Europe knows the price of submission. Its export-driven economies are acutely vulnerable to trade shocks. Analysts warn that punitive duties could slash exports to the US by as much as half for some countries, with Germany, Sweden, and Denmark especially exposed. Memories are still fresh of last year’s EU–US trade deal, when the bloc swallowed a 15% tariff to preserve transatlantic calm, only to discover that calm was temporary.

Each concession teaches the same lesson: acquiescence invites repetition. If tariffs can be imposed, lifted, and reimposed at will, the rules-based order Europe depends on becomes a suggestion, not a shield.

Economic Bullying, Plain and Simple

This is textbook coercion, leveraging market access to force political outcomes. The rhetoric accompanying it is just as alarming, framed by boasts about unconstrained power and personal will. When trade becomes a tool to compel allies to cede territory, the distinction between partnership and vassalage blurs.

Europe’s soft-power model, built on law, norms, and interdependence, is ill-suited to such tactics. Yet that does not mean it is defenseless. It means it must choose to act.

The Tools Europe Has Been Afraid to Use

The first line of resistance lies within Europe’s own institutions. The European Parliament can withhold approval of last year’s trade agreement, ironically touted by Washington as delivering unprecedented access for US firms. Doing so would send a clear signal: agreements are reciprocal, not one-sided favors.

Beyond that lies a more formidable instrument: the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument. Designed precisely for moments like this, it allows retaliation that goes beyond tit-for-tat tariffs. Market access can be restricted; regulatory pressure intensified. Even giants such as Alphabet Inc. could find themselves under scrutiny. That is leverage Washington would notice.

From Motorcycles to Megacaps

Past European responses to US tariffs have been deliberately narrow, targeting emblematic but niche products like motorcycles or bourbon. That approach minimizes escalation but also minimizes impact. The Anti-Coercion Instrument changes the calculus. It recognizes that in a world of economic statecraft, scale matters.

French President Emmanuel Macron has long argued for deploying this “bazooka,” and German industry groups, including the VDMA, have echoed the call. Their message is blunt: Europe must not allow itself to be blackmailed.

NATO, Revisited, and Reconsidered

The Greenland dispute also reopens a deeper wound: Europe’s reliance on American security guarantees. Last year’s acceptance of punitive tariffs was justified by necessity, Ukraine’s defense and the belief that NATO was revitalized. But the optimism that greeted talk of the alliance being “back” now looks naïve.

Denmark has warned that a hostile takeover of Greenland would spell the end of NATO as we know it. The comparison is stark: from an alliance of equals to something resembling enforced obedience. It goes beyond the “brain death” diagnosis once offered by Macron and into existential territory.

Unity Under Strain

European unity, as ever, will be tested. Countries spared from the tariff list may seek quiet diplomacy. Political allies of Trump within Europe will sow doubt and division. The UK, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is likely to pursue bespoke exemptions rather than collective action.
Yet fragmentation is precisely what coercion relies on. Divide the bloc, and resistance melts away. Unity, imperfect as it is, remains Europe’s greatest strength.

The Inevitable Reality Check

No one in Europe harbors illusions about the balance of power. If Washington were truly determined to seize Greenland, despite opposition from Congress, allies, and Greenlanders themselves, it likely could. Former adviser Steve Bannon has already framed the Arctic as the “Great Game” of the century.

But power unchecked breeds counter-movements. Canada is edging closer to China despite sharing the world’s longest undefended border with the US. When alliance means subordination, alternatives become attractive.

From Mice to Tigers

Europe’s predicament is no longer theoretical. If being an American ally now entails trade penalties, regulatory intimidation, and demands over territory, then the old bargain is broken. Cutting loose, even partially, may become preferable to endless submission.
The Greenland crisis could mark that turning point. Fiction once imagined tiny states roaring to secure patronage. Reality now shows established powers needing to find their voice to secure dignity. Europe’s mice have squeaked long enough. Whether they discover their inner tigers will define the continent’s place in the world for decades to come.