Trump walks back Greenland tariffs threat, citing territory ‘deal’ – which Danish official calls ‘not real’ | Greenland

Donald Trump backed off his threat to impose sweeping US tariffs on eight European countries, claiming he had agreed to “the framework for a future deal” on Greenland, at the same time a Danish lawmaker described the deal as “not real”.

The president backtracked four days after promising to impose high import duties on a number of U.S. allies because of their support for Greenland’s continued status as an autonomous Danish territory.

Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform that the USA will not impose a 10 percent customs duty on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, England, the Netherlands and Finland as of February 1. Over the weekend, he also threatened to raise tariffs to 25% from June 1.

The threat caused widespread concern; Criticism from senior European politicians who declared that they “will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed”; and warnings from economists.

After what he described as a “very productive” meeting with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte on Wednesday, Trump claimed he had created the “framework” for a deal on Greenland, without providing further details.

“Based on this understanding, I will not impose the Tariffs scheduled to come into effect on February 1,” the President said.

Trump did not provide further details about the agreement, but said talks were continuing regarding a US missile defense shield that would be located partly in Greenland.

He claimed at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland that the agreement would be valid “forever”. “We have a concept of a deal. I think it would be a very good deal for the United States and for them as well,” Trump told financial news network CNBC. “It’s a bit complicated, but we’ll explain it later.”

NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said: “Discussions among NATO allies on the framework to which the president referred will focus on ensuring the security of the Arctic through the collective efforts of allies, particularly the seven Arctic allies.

He added: “Negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the United States will proceed with the aim of ensuring that Russia and China never gain an economic or military foothold in Greenland.”

However, Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general, issued a warning. “I think it was a very good meeting tonight,” he told the AFP news agency. “But there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

The Danish foreign minister said Trump gave positive signals by saying he would not use military force to seize Greenland.

“Trump said he will pause the trade war. He says, ‘I will not attack Greenland.’ These are positive messages,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Danish public broadcaster DR.

“He also had a nice meeting with the NATO secretary general,” Trump said, without giving details.

The New York Times reported that at a NATO meeting on Wednesday, military officials from member states of the transatlantic alliance discussed a compromise that would give the United States sovereignty over small areas of Greenland. reportedciting three unnamed senior officials. It was stated that two of the officials compared the proposal with Britain’s military bases in Cyprus, which is considered British territory.

Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament he wrote on Facebook On Wednesday night, despite Trump’s claim that he had reached an agreement with NATO over his homeland, the military alliance was said to have no authority to hold any negotiations on Greenland. “There is nothing about us without us,” he wrote.

Amid rumors that a mining deal may have been discussed between Trump and Rutte in Davos, Chemnitz Larsen said the idea that NATO should have anything to say about Greenland’s sovereignty or mines was “completely out of the question”.

Sascha Faxe, a member of the Danish parliament, said: Interview with Sky News On Wednesday evening, he said that the agreement Trump claimed to have reached with NATO on Greenland was “not real.”

“The thing is, you can’t get a deal done without first including Greenland as part of the negotiations,” Faxe said.

Referring to Larsen’s earlier comments, Chemnitz continued: “I know from the Greenlanders – I mean, we have a Greenlandic MP in Denmark – and he is very clear that this is not the prerogative of Rutte and NATO; they will not be able to exchange underground in Greenland or Greenlandic security without the Greenlanders being part of it.”

“And it is very clear: Greenland is not for sale, they are not ready to negotiate,” Faxe added. “So it’s not a real negotiation, it’s a conversation between two men,” he said. “This is definitely not a deal.”

In a rambling speech in Davos hours before cutting tariffs, Trump said the United States would not use force to seize Greenland but emphasized that he still planned to use his country’s economic and diplomatic power to get it and touted the benefits of U.S. tariffs.

“You are all on their side, and in some cases, their victims,” ​​he told delegates gathered from around the world. “But after all, it’s fair and most of you realize that.”

But the US president has repeatedly backed away from his most extreme threats of tariffs; especially last spring, when it greeted the beginning of a new era for the U.S. economy but shelved a massive wave of tariffs.

Concerns about Trump’s aggressive trade strategy are not only international but also domestic. His tariffs have repeatedly raised fears about the US economy. Wall Street had its worst day since October on Tuesday, the first day of trading after Trump threatened to attack NATO allies with tariffs on Greenland.

The US president follows stock market movements closely and mentioned them several times in his speech on Wednesday. He took credit for the fact that they had hit a series of record highs since returning to office, but admitted this week that they had fallen “because of Iceland”, which apparently meant the quest for Greenland.

Trump’s latest obsession with Greenland, following the US’s ouster of Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela, has shaken global officials in recent weeks. Trump claims that Denmark owes Greenland to the United States because it helped defend the region during the second world war, which has been debunked, and that the United States needs the territory for national security purposes.

In his speech in Davos, Trump said that the United States would not use military force to take Greenland, but demanded “immediate negotiations.” “We want a piece of ice to protect the world, but they won’t give it to us,” Trump said. “We never wanted anything else.”

His escalation on tariffs came just hours after the European Parliament indefinitely suspended approval of the US-EU tariff agreement signed last summer; It was a move that showed politicians were willing to confront Trump for the first time.