President Trump is threatening to impose a 10% import tax on eight European countries until “a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”
The president said the countries are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands and Finland, with the tariffs starting Feb. 1.
The new 10% duties would be raised to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place, the president said Saturday on social media.
Denmark, the overseer of Greenland, led the way in reacting to Mr. Trump’s volley, with parliamentary member Pelle Dragsted saying on social media, “Trump must not be allowed to divide us.
“Trump’s threats of tariffs against Denmark and a number of other European countries must be met with European solidarity and resistance. … [The EU must] respond united and hit back hard.”
The leader of the Denmark Democrats, Inger Stojberg, said his country must not bow to “Trump’s bully methods.”
Mr. Trump’s tariff dart comes right after bipartisan U.S. senators and representatives traveled to Denmark to reassure Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen that they support his country’s control of Greenland.
Two senators on the trip to Copenhagen, New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, said the message of the meeting was “resoundingly clear” that Denmark and Greenland want to partner with the U.S. and advance shared security goals.
“There is no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are eager to work with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under the framework of long-standing treaties,” the co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group said in a statement. “When we reconvene with our Senate colleagues, we will convey the perspectives shared by Danish and Greenlandic officials, as well as from the indigenous people who live the realities of Greenland every day.”
The EU is America’s largest trading partner and the largest source of imports. Mr. Trump solidified a deal with the EU last year, capping tariffs at 15%, and an agreement with the U.K. that caps levies on imports at 10%.
The White House has repeatedly made clear that all options are on the table to acquire Greenland, doubling down on the desire he expressed in his first term. Mr. Trump has said he plans to take control “the easy way” or “the hard way.”
By threatening tariffs, Mr. Trump appears to be relying on his preferred source of diplomatic leverage to sway Denmark and European partners.
Mr. Trump says foreign nations rely heavily on the U.S. market, so he slaps levies on their products to get what he wants.
However, his authority to impose tariffs, like the ones he’s threatened over Greenland, might be curtailed by the Supreme Court.
The justices are set to rule on whether Mr. Trump overstepped by invoking a 1977 law to set nation-by-nation tariffs.
Blue states and small businesses said he usurped taxing powers that belong to Congress, and key justices seemed to agree with them during oral arguments.
A ruling against Mr. Trump would strip him of nation-by-nation tariff power and prompt a scramble to refund billions in tariff payments.
Meanwhile, he has repeatedly asserted that the U.S. needs to annex the Arctic island for national security reasons.
“China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. “Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!”
He added, “It is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question.”
Despite the opposition of European governments, Mr. Trump’s tariffs against the NATO allies ramp up his seriousness about planting an American flag on Greenlandic soil.
Europe also sounds serious, with European Council President Antonio Costa saying at a press conference soon after Mr. Trump’s announcement, “The European Union will always be very firm in defending international law.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said on social media that his country remains committed to “the sovereignty and independence of Nations” and “no intimidation nor threat will influence us.”
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, labeled the tariffs “completely wrong. … The sovereignty of Greenland should only be decided by the people of Greenland.”
Just hours before Mr. Trump’s announcement, flocks of people in Greenland and Denmark took to the streets to protest his annexation stand.
