U.S. President Donald Trump has thrown down a hard-line measure to impose a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne. It is an extreme move to force French President Emmanuel Macron to join the dispute arbitration body Trump is pushing, the Board of Peace. Experts said Trump's signature brinkmanship, using economic pressure to reorganize the international security order around the United States, has reemerged.
Reuters reported on the 20th (local time) that on the 19th Trump lashed out to reporters at the news that Macron had refused to join the Board of Peace. "Macron is set to finish his term soon," Trump said, adding, "I don't care whether he joins the board or not, but once the 200% tariff applies, he will eventually come around," offering a taunting warning.
The Board of Peace is a plan Trump first proposed in September last year as a way to end the Gaza war. But a recent draft sent to countries around the world shows the body aims not only to maintain Middle East peace but also to reveal ambitions to replace the United Nations' role.
According to the Board of Peace charter reported by the Financial Times, the board is an "international organization that achieves peace by establishing a legitimate governing system in conflict zones." Its operations strictly follow market logic. A draft the U.S. administration sent to about 60 countries specifies that to maintain membership for more than three years, one must pay $1 billion (about 1.3 trillion won) in cash. Trump even invited Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Western countries are wary of, to the Board of Peace, sending ripples through the international community. Diplomats who requested anonymity warned, "This body proposed by Trump could seriously harm the existing U.N. system."
A close aide to Macron told Reuters that "France is firmly determined to reject the request to participate in the Board of Peace." Macron is already in a head-on clash with Trump over the Greenland issue. Opposing the United States, which is seeking annexation of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, France has dispatched troops and is maintaining the toughest stance among European countries.
Macron is also leading calls to counter U.S. economic pressure by deploying the high-intensity European trade threat response measure (ACI), dubbed a "trade bazooka." ACI is a powerful European Union-level trade tool that strikes back with retaliatory tariffs and other steps when the other side applies unfair economic pressure.
Trump is expected to address the latest clash over the Board of Peace in earnest at the Davos forum that opened on the 19th. The Trump administration is sticking to the position that it must secure sovereignty over Greenland and even shows moves to exclude Denmark, which holds Greenland's sovereignty, from the discussions altogether.
Reuters predicted the administration's move would become a powerful diplomatic tool combining budget execution authority with trade policy. Experts analyzed that Trump is seeking to dismantle the existing framework of international cooperation through deal-focused diplomacy that prioritizes his country's interests.