US president Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark’s vast Arctic island.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said additional 10 per cent import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Britain – all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump.
Those tariffs would increase to 25 per cent on June 1 and would continue until a deal was reached for the US to purchase Greenland, Trump wrote.
He has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large mineral deposits, and has not ruled out using force to take it.
READ MORE
European nations this week sent military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request.
“These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable,” Mr Trump wrote.
“The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades,” he said.
Protesters in Denmark and Greenland demonstrated on Saturday against Trump’s demands and called for Greenland to be left to determine its own future.
Prominent European Union countries have backed Denmark, warning that the US military seizure of a territory in NATO could collapse the military alliance that Washington leads. Britain has also given its support.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with US vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
That encounter did not resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group – on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.
European leaders have insisted that it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory.
In Copenhagen, a group of US senators and members of the House of Representatives met on Friday with Danish and Greenlandic politicians, and with leaders including Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen.
Delegation leader senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, thanked the group’s hosts for “225 years of being a good and trusted ally and partner” and said that “we had a strong and robust dialogue about how we extend that into the future”.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after meeting politicians that the visit reflected a strong relationship over decades and “it is one that we need to nurture”.
She told reporters that “Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing with this delegation”.
The tone contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Mr Trump has sought to justify his calls for a US takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.
The White House has not ruled out taking the territory by force.
On Thursday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt claimed that a delegation from Denmark and Greenland had agreed to “continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland”.
But Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Vivian Motzfeldt, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, respectively, contradicted her claims.
Mr Rasmussen said they had not made such an agreement, but had formed a working group to investigate whether it was possible to “accommodate” US security wishes for the Arctic region.
Ms Motzfeldt said Ms Leavitt had not been at the meeting, telling the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq: “There is a lot of work ahead, the situation is still very uncertain, but we have a new channel, a place where we can talk directly to each other.
“We have heard so many lies, to be honest and so much exaggeration on the threats towards Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who took part in Friday’s meetings. “And mostly, I would say the threats that we’re seeing right now is from the US side.” - Reuters and AP
