Could Europe sell US debt if a Greenland deal doesn’t come through?
Some European policymakers have floated the idea of selling off US debt as a way of combating US belligerence, but it may be much more difficult in practice.
The United States’ geopolitical brinkmanship over Greenland has thrown its economic ties to the EU into sharp relief. European powers are considering what instruments it has to combat US belligerence, including the “nuclear option” of offloading US debt.
The tone has shifted after a supposed “framework of a deal” at Davos, and US ambitions to take over Greenland have cooled, for now. But EU heads of state are still preparing possible responses to further escalation.
One option was cutting off access to US markets through the so-called “trade bazooka.” If triggered, it would cut off US companies from the EU market, costing them billions. Another option is offloading the trillions of dollars in US assets held in Europe.
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