Trump Says 8 European Countries Will Face 10% Tariff For Opposing US Control of Greenland

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland will face tariffs, Trump said in a social media post at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He said the rate would rise to 25% on June 1 unless an agreement was made by the United States for the “whole and total acquisition of Greenland.”

The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force negotiations with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semi-autonomous region of NATO ally Denmark that the United States considers critical to its national security.

“The United States is immediately open to negotiating with Denmark and/or any of these countries that have put so much at risk despite everything we have done for them,” Trump said in a statement to Truth Social.

The tariff threat could mark a troubling rupture between Trump and America’s longtime NATO partners, further straining the alliance that dates back to 1949 and provides Europe and North America with a degree of collective security. Trump has repeatedly tried to use trade penalties to bend allies and rivals to his will; While it has received investment commitments from some countries, it has backed away from others, especially China.

Trump is scheduled to travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where he will likely face European leaders whom he has threatened with tariffs starting in just over two weeks.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Trump’s move was a “surprise” given the “constructive meeting” with senior US officials in Washington this week.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said in a joint statement that tariffs would “undermine transatlantic relations and lead to a dangerous decline.” They said Europe “will remain determined to preserve its sovereignty.”

There are pressing questions about how the White House might seek to impose tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone for trade, according to a European diplomat who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It was also unclear how Trump could act under US law, although he could invoke emergency economic powers, which are now subject to a challenge from the US Supreme Court.

Trump has long said that he thinks the United States should own the strategically located, mineral-rich island, which has a population of approximately 57 thousand and whose defense is provided by Denmark. He intensified his calls a day after the military operation to oust Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

The President stated that the tariffs were in retaliation for the symbolic deployment of troops from European countries to Greenland, which the United States said was necessary for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system. He also argued that Russia and China might try to take over the island.

The United States already has access to Greenland under the 1951 defense agreement. The American military presence in Greenland has fallen since 1945 from thousands of soldiers at 17 bases and installations to 200 soldiers at the remote Pituffik Cosmodrome in the island’s northwest, Denmark’s foreign minister said. This base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO.

Although many countries on the continent accepted Trump’s 15 percent tariffs last year to preserve economic and security relations with Washington, there has been steady resistance to Trump’s ambitions in Europe.

In a social media post, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to equate the tariff threat with Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

“No intimidation or threats will affect us when we face such situations in Ukraine, Greenland or anywhere else in the world,” Macron said in a post translated on X.

‘Important for the whole world’ Early Saturday, hundreds of people braved near-freezing temperatures, rain and icy streets to march in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, in a rally in support of their self-government.

Thousands of people, many carrying Greenlandic flags, also marched in Copenhagen. Some held signs with slogans such as “Make America Smart Again” and “Hands Off.”

“This is important for the whole world,” Danish protester Elise Riechie told The Associated Press while holding Danish and Greenlandic flags. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”

The rallies took place hours after a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers tried to reassure Denmark and Greenland of support during a visit to Copenhagen.

European training exercises Danish Maj. Gen. Søren Andersen, leader of the Joint Arctic Command, told the AP that Denmark does not expect the U.S. military to attack Greenland or another NATO ally, and that European troops recently deployed to Nuuk for Arctic defense training.

Although the White House did not rule out the possibility of seizing the region by force, it said that its purpose was not to send a message to the Trump administration.

“I won’t get into the political part, but I will say that I never expected a NATO country to attack another NATO country,” he said aboard a Danish military ship docked in Nuuk. “For us, for me, it’s not about signaling. It’s actually about training military units, working with allies.”

The Danish military held a planning meeting with NATO allies, including the United States, in Greenland on Friday to discuss Arctic security on the alliance’s northern flank in the face of a potential Russian threat. Americans have also been invited to participate in Operation Arctic Endurance in Greenland in the coming days, Andersen said.

Andersen said that during his 2.5-year command in Greenland, he did not see any Chinese or Russian warships or warships, even though Trump said they were off the coast of the island.

However, in the unlikely event that American troops used force on Danish territory, Andersen confirmed that Danish soldiers had an obligation to respond.

US ‘has almost no better ally’ than Denmark Trump suggested China and Russia have their own plans for Greenland and its vast untapped critical mineral reserves. He recently said anything less than U.S. control of the Arctic island would be “unacceptable.”

The president saw tariffs as a means of getting what he wanted without having to resort to military action. At the White House on Friday, he described how he threatened European allies with drug tariffs and teased the possibility of doing so again.

“I could do this for Greenland too,” Trump said.

After Trump followed up, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said, “Congress should roll back tariff powers” so those powers are not used solely at the president’s discretion.

Denmark said this week it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with its allies.

D-Del., who visited Copenhagen with other members of Congress. “The United States has almost no better ally than Denmark,” said Senator Chris Coons. “If we do things that make the Danes question whether we can be trusted as a NATO ally, why would any other country try to be our ally or believe our representations?”

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Burrows reported from Nuuk, Greenland, and Niemann from Copenhagen, Denmark. Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio in Berlin, Aamer Madhani in Washington, Jill Lawless in London and Kwiyeon Ha and Evgeniy Maloletka in Nuuk contributed to this report.