Trump says eight European countries face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
Donald Trump has said he will impose 10% tariffs on Nato countries – including the UK, France, and Germany – who have deployed troops to Greenland amid US threats to take over the Arctic island.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, he said “Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown”, adding: “This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet.”
The US president said 10% tariffs will be imposed on all goods the countries export to the United States from 1 February, followed by a 25% rate from 1 June.
“This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” he added.
Trump reiterated his warning that “China and Russia want Greenland”, saying “there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it”.
Key events
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian senior staff correspondent who writes about international trade, post-Brexit EU affairs and Anglo-Irish affairs
Denmark has attempted to lower the diplomatic temperature in the growing crisis over Greenland.
In a statement, Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen referred to “constructive” talks with US secretary of state Marco Rubio last week. He also acknowledged that more had to be done to increase the security in the Arctic.
“That is why we and Nato partners are stepping up in full transparency with our American allies,” Rasmussen said.
The Netherlands’ foreign affairs minister said the country has “taken note” of Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement.
In a statement posted on social media, David van Weel said: “Military efforts related to exercises in Greenland are intended to contribute to security in the Arctic region.”
He added that the Netherlands is in “close contact” with the European Commission and its partners as it formulates a response.
Transatlantic relations in ‘dangerous downward spiral’, EU leaders warn
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian senior staff correspondent who writes about international trade, post-Brexit EU affairs and Anglo-Irish affairs
EU leaders have warned Donald Trump that “tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral” in the growing crisis over Greenland.
In a joint statement delivered from Paraquay, where they signed the historic Mercosur trade deal, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, António Costa, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, leaned heavily into the arguments over Greenland’s sovereignty.
Here’s their statement in full:
Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole.
We have consistently underlined our shared transatlantic interest in peace and security in the Arctic, including through Nato. The pre-coordinated Danish exercise, conducted with allies, responds to the need to strengthen Arctic security and poses no threat to anyone.
The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland. Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US.
Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.
Watch: Greenland’s PM joins protest over Trump tariffs threat
Liam Byrne, the chair of the business and trade committee in the UK House of Commons, has accused Donald Trump of engaging in “pressure politics” over his latest tariffs threat.
Byrne said on social media that using “tariffs to punish allies for lawful security decisions sets a dangerous precedent”.
He urged the UK to “stand with its allies to force a rethink – calmly, collectively – but with consequences”.
“We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” Sweden’s prime minister has said in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs threat.
Ulf Kristersson insisted that “only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland”.
He highlighted his commitment to “always stand up for my country, and for our allied neighbours”.
Posting on X, he continued: “This is an EU issue that concerns many more countries than those now being singled out.
“Sweden is now having intensive discussions with other EU countries, Norway and the UK for a collective response.”
To remind readers: Trump earlier today announced that Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland are all set to face 10% tariffs on goods exported to the US from 1 February, with the rate rising to 25% on 1 June.
Trump’s tariffs are ‘completely wrong’ – Starmer
Keir Starmer has condemned Donald Trump’s latest tariffs as “completely wrong” as he insisted that Greenland is part of Denmark and “its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes”.
The UK prime minister said:
Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes.
We have also made clear that Arctic Security matters for the whole of Nato and allies should all do more together to address the threat from Russia across different parts of the Arctic.
Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of Nato allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.
Donald Trump’s tariffs on European countries opposing US plans to take control of Greenland “come as a surprise”, Denmark’s foreign minister has said.
“The purpose of the increased military presence in Greenland, to which the [US] president refers, is precisely to enhance security in the Arctic,” Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Agence France-Presse.
“We are in close contact with the European Commission and our other partners on the matter,” he added.
Ellie Chowns, the leader of the UK parliamentary Green Party, has accused Donald Trump of seeking to “bully” countries into complying with his demands after his latest tariffs threats.
She said:
Donald Trump treats the international stage like a schoolyard playground, attempting to bully and brute force other countries into compliance with his imperialist agenda. The UK cannot continue to appease an erratic, unreliable leader under the guise of a “special relationship.”
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian senior staff correspondent who writes about international trade, post-Brexit EU affairs and Anglo-Irish affairs
French president Emmanuel Macron has hit back at Donald Trump’s latest threats, warning “no amount of intimidation” will persuade European nations to change their course on Greenland.
Posting on social media, Macron said: “France is committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations, in Europe and elsewhere. This guides our choices. It underpins our commitment to the United Nations and our Charter.”
He added: “It is for this reason that we support and will continue to support Ukraine, and that we have built a coalition of the willing for robust and lasting peace, to defend these principles and our security.
“It is also for this reason that we have decided to join the exercise decided by Denmark in Greenland. We stand by this decision, not least because it concerns security in the Arctic and at the borders of Europe.
“No intimidation or threats will influence us, whether in Ukraine, Greenland, or anywhere else in the world when we are faced with such situations.”
The French president described Trump’s tariff threats as “unacceptable”, adding that they “have no place in this context”.
He continued: “Europeans will respond to them in a united and coordinated manner if they were to be confirmed. We will know how to uphold European sovereignty.”
European Council president António Costa has said he is “co-ordinating a joint response” to Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement.
“What we can say is that the European Union will always be very firm in defending international law, wherever it may be, which of course begins within the territory of the member states of the European Union,” Costa said.
“For now, I am coordinating a joint response from the member states of the European Union on this issue,” he added.
Lisa O’Carroll
Lisa O’Carroll is a Guardian senior staff correspondent who writes about international trade, post-Brexit EU affairs and Anglo-Irish affairs
Donald Trump’s threat to impose fresh tariffs on eight European countries – the UK, Norway, and six EU member states – is a wrecking ball to the carefully stitched deals he concluded with those countries last summer.
The UK’s trade deal, as it was branded last May, is in fact a thin tariff deal on a limited number of products including cars, beef, aerospace, ethanol and steel, with a 10% tariff deal on other exports ranging from salmon to bone china.
The EU’s deal is broader but also has a carve-out for cars and a 15% all inclusive deal on most other products including wine and spirits.
The latest threat will be seen as another attempt by a man – sometimes ally, sometimes adversary – to win an argument using one of his favourite weapons.
Both the EU and the UK are in the middle of sensitive negotiations to reduce tariffs he has already imposed particularly on steel – which are rated at 25% for British exports and 50% for EU products.
But today’s threat underlines the unstable nature of any deal with Trump.
Nigel Farage has condemned Donald Trump’s tariffs on European countries, as he warned that they “will hurt us”.
Posting on social media, the Reform UK leader said:
We don’t always agree with the US government and in this case we certainly don’t. These tariffs will hurt us. If Greenland is vulnerable to malign influences, then have another look at Diego Garcia.
Farage’s post referred to the UK’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which he has repeatedly condemned.
Under the deal, the UK will hand over sovereignty of the islands but retain control over a joint UK-US military base on the island of Diego Garcia for an “initial period” of 99 years.
Donald Trump said European countries were playing a “very dangerous game” as he condemned their decision to deploy military personnel to Greenland and announced a new wave of tariffs against them.
The UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland are all set to face 10% tariffs on goods exported to the US from 1 February, with the rate rising to 25% on 1 June, Trump said.
As a reminder, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands this week said they would send troops to Greenland to participate in a so-called reconnaissance mission.
The UK has sent one military officer, while France and Germany deployed 15 and 13, respectively.
On Thursday, France’s president Emmanuel Macron said an “initial team of French soldiers” had already been deployed to the Arctic island, adding that they “will be reinforced in the coming days by land, air and sea assets”.
Jakub Krupa
Jakub Krupa is a Guardian breaking news reporter and the Europe live blogger
Former UK national security adviser and retired senior diplomat, Lord Peter Ricketts, has told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that “the right thing for the European countries is to react very calmly” and “go on making the case that America can have all its security interests served by working with Denmark and with Nato”.
“Remember that in the cold war, America had 10,000 troops in Greenland, so it’s entirely open to the Americans to increase their military presence without going unilateral and these kind of threatening approaches,” he said.
He added that European leaders could in private make clear that “this tariff business isn’t going to work – for one thing, the European Union has a single tariff, so he will find he can’t put tariffs on individual EU countries; it’s the EU as a whole”.
“Rather than threatening tariffs, we need to be working together to work out the very legitimate issues about Greenland security – not that China is about to take it over, but that all of us in Nato have Arctic security as a priority,” Ricketts said.
The way to do this is to work together and in the past, I think Keir Starmer and others have been quite effective at working with President Trump privately, not taking him on in public, and I think we need to go back into that routine to get him to see that there are other ways of achieving what he wants without this sort of threatening, blustering language about tariffs.
