France's President Emmanuel Macron has asked the European Union to activate its powerful "anti-coercion instrument" if the United States imposes tariffs in the standoff over Greenland.

The bloc's weapon, never used before and dubbed its "trade bazooka", allows for curbing imports of goods and services, and has been cited as a tool to push back on tech and trade disputes.

Trump has said he would impose rising tariffs from February 1 on goods imported from EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, as well as Britain and Norway, until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, a move major EU states have decried as blackmail.