Time for Europe to wake up amid US threats, ECB's Villeroy says

BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 01/21/26 02:47 AM EST

PARIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Europe must wake up in the face of threats of fresh tariffs by U.S. ?President Donald Trump over Greenland, European Central Bank ?policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on ?Wednesday.

"Europe must stand firm and ?defend itself, ?and Europe can also wake up and play ?its own cards," Villeroy ?told France 2 television.

"We must defend ourselves on tariffs. We must ?defend our rights ?over Greenland. ?But we have many resources. We can work together as Europeans and ?with our allies on artificial intelligence and, of course, carbon-free energy. As for our defence efforts, I believe it is time for Europe to wake ?up," ?he added.

"This political crisis must be resolved, but above all we must ?mobilise our assets around a major European project. The single market is one of our strengths."

Villeroy said fresh tariffs by the U.S. would weaken economic growth for all ?parties involved, but that their impact on European inflation should be rather muted. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; ?Editing by Bernadette Baum and Andrew Heavens)

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Lower-quality debt securities generally offer higher yields, but also involve greater risk of default or price changes due to potential changes in the credit quality of the issuer. Any fixed income security sold or redeemed prior to maturity may be subject to loss.

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