Trump Says He May Punish Countries With Tariffs If They Don’t Back The U.S. Controlling Greenland

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he could punish countries with tariffs if they do not support U.S. control GreenlandIt’s a message that comes as a bipartisan Congressional delegation tries to ease tensions in Denmark’s capital.

Trump has insisted for months that the United States controls Greenland, a semi-autonomous region. NATO ally Denmark and earlier this week said anything less than US hands of the Arctic island would be “unacceptable”.

On Friday, during an unrelated White House event on rural health care, he described how he had threatened his European allies with drug tariffs.

“I could do this for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I can impose tariffs on countries that do not comply with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security. That’s why I can do that,” he said.

He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to force the issue.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington this week.

That encounter was not a solution deep differencesbut it did produce an agreement to establish a working group – which Denmark and the White House later made bids for sharply diverging public opinions.

European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland have the authority to decide on matters related to the region, and Denmark this week said it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with its allies.

In Copenhagen, a group of senators and members of the House of Representatives met on Friday with Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers and leaders including Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

Delegation leader Sen., a Delaware Democrat. Chris Coons thanked the group’s hosts “for being a good and trusted ally and partner for 225 years” and said “we’ve had a strong, robust dialogue about how to extend this into the future.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said after meeting with lawmakers that the visit reflected a strong relationship that has spanned decades and “it’s a relationship we need to build on.” “Greenland needs to be seen as our ally, not as an asset, and I think that’s what you’re hearing from this delegation,” he told reporters.

His tone contrasted with that coming from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which has vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House did not ignore seize territory by force.

“To be honest, we’ve heard a lot of lies and a lot of exaggeration about the threats to Greenland,” said Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic politician and member of the Danish parliament who attended Friday’s meetings. “And for the most part, I would say the threats we’re seeing now are coming from the United States.”

Murkowski emphasized Congress’ role in spending and delivering messages from voters.

“I think it’s important to emphasize that when you ask the American people whether it’s a good idea for the United States to buy Greenland, the vast majority, 75%, will say we don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said.

Murkowski, along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, has introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit U.S. Defense or State Department funds from being used to annex or seize control of Greenland or the sovereign territory of any NATO member state without the consent or permission of the ally’s North Atlantic Council.

Conflict reaches huge proportions Lives of Greenlanders. Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, he said on tuesday “If we have to choose here and now between the United States and Denmark, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

The president of the Nuuk, Greenland-based Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents about 180,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia’s Chukotka region on international issues, said the White House’s insistent statements that the United States should own Greenland provide “a clear picture of how the U.S. administration views the people of Greenland, how the U.S. administration views Indigenous peoples and the peoples who are few in number.”

The issue is “how one of the greatest powers in the world views other peoples who are less powerful than themselves,” Sara Olsvig told The Associated Press in Nuuk. And that’s really worrying.”

The indigenous Inuit in Greenland do not want to be recolonized, he said.

Superville reported from Washington. Emma Burrows in Nuuk, Greenland and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.