World leaders criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on Jan. 17 of a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries who don’t support his bid to acquire Greenland for national security reasons. Trump has said if the United States doesn’t gain control, China or Russia will take it.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the tariff on allies “completely wrong.”
“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,” Starmer wrote on X Jan. 17.
“We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.”
The tariff on goods sent to the United States will start on Feb. 1 and impact Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland, according to Trump’s Jan. 17 Truth Social post.
The tariff will rise to 25 percent on June 1.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the tariffs “unacceptable.”
“No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations,” Macron wrote on X the same day.
“Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. 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.”
All countries impacted by Trump’s newly-announced tariffs are NATO members.
Some of the countries, such as France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands, confirmed they were sending troops for a Danish military exercise.
Trump warned that “world peace is at stake” if the United States does not succeed in obtaining Greenland.
“This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Jan. 17.
“These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable. Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end[s] quickly, and without question.”
Officials in Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, have said that the territory is “not for sale.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted a Jan. 14 meeting at the White House with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt.
Rasmussen described the talks as a “frank but also constructive discussion.”
