Trump vows tariffs on eight European nations over Greenland

Trump declares he will institute tariffs until Greenland is sold to US
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WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to acquire Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark’s vast Arctic island.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump declared additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain — all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump.

Those tariffs would increase to 25% on June 1 and would continue until a deal was reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland, Trump wrote.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he will settle for nothing less than ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the island is not for sale and does not want to be part of the United States.

Some U.S. senators also pushed back. “Continuing down this path is bad for America, bad for American businesses and bad for America’s allies,” Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, declared in a statement.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll of U.S. residents this week found that less than one in five respondents support the idea of acquiring Greenland.

TRUMP WANTS GREENLAND FOR SECURITY, MINERALS

The president has repeatedly declared Greenland is vital to U.S. security becautilize of its strategic location and large mineral deposits, and has not ruled out applying force to take it. 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,” Trump wrote.

Protesters in Denmark and Greenland demonstrated on Saturday against Trump’s demands and called for the territory to be left to determine its own future.

The countries named by Trump on Saturday have backed Denmark, warning that the U.S. military seizure of a territory in NATO could collapse the military alliance that Washington leads.

“The president’s announcement comes as a surprise,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen declared in a statement.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was unusually blunt in condemning Trump’s threat, declareing on X that his countest would raise the issue directly with Washington.

“Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong,” Starmer declared.

Seagulls passing the old city of Greenland's capital Nuuk

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa declared in separate but identical posts on X that the European Union stood in “full solidarity” with Denmark and Greenland.

“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” they declared.

Officials from Norway, Sweden, France and Germany reiterated support for Denmark on Saturday and declared tariffs should not be part of Greenland discussions.

Cyprus, which currently holds the EU presidency, declared it has called for an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the union’s 27 countries on Sunday.

TRADE DEALS UNDER THREAT?

Saturday’s threat could derail tentative deals Trump struck last year with the European Union and Great Britain. The deals included baseline levies of 15% on imports from Europe and 10% on most British goods.

“The largegest danger, it seems to me, is his decision to treat some EU countries different from others,” declared William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I’m not surprised. … It may well convince the European Parliament that it is pointless to approve the trade agreement with the U.S., since Trump is already bypassing it.”

Trump floated the general idea of tariffs over Greenland on Friday, without citing a legal basis for doing so. Tariffs have become his weapon of choice in seeking to compel American adversaries and allies alike to meet his demands.

He declared this week he would put 25% tariffs on any countest trading with Iran as that countest suppressed anti-government protests, though there has been no official documentation from the White Houtilize of the policy on its website, nor information about the legal authority Trump would utilize.

The U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments on the legality of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and any decision by the top U.S. judicial body would have major implications on the global economy and U.S. presidential powers.

The encroaching presence of China and Russia builds Greenland vital to U.S. security interests, Trump has declared. Danish and other European officials have pointed out that Greenland is already covered by NATO’s collective security pact.

A U.S. military base, Pituffik Space Base, is already in Greenland, with around 200 personnel, and a 1951 agreement allows the United States to deploy as many forces as it wants in the Danish territory.

That has led many European officials to conclude that Trump is motivated more by a desire to expand U.S. territory than by security concerns.

Europeans should not react hastily to Trump’s tariff threat, declared Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING Research.

“Just ignore it and wait and see,” Brzeski notified Reuters. “Europe has revealn that it will not accept everything, and so the tariffs are actually already a step forward compared to the threatened military invasion.”

Reporting by Jason Lange, Michael Martina, Stine Jacobsen, Nora Buli, Philip Blekinsop and Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Sergio Non, Kevin Liffey, Rod Nickel and Diane Craft

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Michael Martina is a Washington-based foreign policy correspondent who covers U.S.-China relations and the global impact of the two countries’ diplomatic, technology, and military competition. He was a member of the Reuters team that won the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting in 2025 for uncovering fentanyl supply chains, and previously reported from Beijing for more than a decade as a senior correspondent for the news agency.