Trump slaps 10 pc tariff on 8 European countries for opposing US control of Greenland

US President Donald Trump declared on Saturday (January 17) that he would charge a 10 per cent import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland, setting up a potentially dangerous test of US partnerships in Europe.

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff, Trump said in a social media post while at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The rate would climb to 25 per cent on June 1 if no deal was in place for “the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland” by the United States, he said.

Tariffs as leverage

The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to US national security.

“The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them,” Trump said on Truth Social.

The tariff threat could mark a problematic rupture between Trump and America’s longtime NATO partners, further straining an alliance that dates to 1949 and provides a collective degree of security to Europe and North America.

Also read: Trump threatens to take Greenland ‘the hard way’, wants to stop Russia, China

Trump is scheduled to travel on Tuesday (January 20) to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he likely will run into the European leaders he just threatened with tariffs that would start in little more than two weeks.

Bolt from the blue after ‘constructive meeting’

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

The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said in a joint statement that tariffs “would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.” They said Europe would remain “committed to upholding its sovereignty.”

There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading, according to a European diplomat who spoke to news agency AP on the condition of anonymity.

It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under US law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a US Supreme Court challenge.

Eyes on Greenland

Trump has long said he thinks the US should own the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which has a population of about 57,000 and whose defence is provided by Denmark. He intensified his calls a day after the military operation to oust Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

The US president indicated the tariffs were retaliation for what appeared to be the deployment of symbolic levels of troops from the European countries to Greenland, which he has said was essential for the “Golden Dome” missile defence system for the US. He also has argued that Russia and China might try to take over the island.

Also read: Team Trump floats proposal to offer $100,000 per person to woo Greenlanders

The US already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defence agreement. Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, the Danish foreign minister has said. That base supports missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.

European resistance

Resistance has steadily built in Europe to Trump’s ambitions even as several countries on the continent agreed to his 15 per cent tariffs last year in order to preserve an economic and security relationship with Washington.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a social media post, seemed to equate the tariff threat to Russian leader Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

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

‘Important for the whole world’

Earlier Saturday, hundreds of people in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, braved near-freezing temperatures, rain and icy streets to march in a rally in support of their own self-governance. They held signs of protest, waved their national flag and chanted “Greenland is not for sale” in support of their own self-governance in the face of increasing threats of an American takeover.

Thousands of people also marched through Copenhagen, many of them carrying Greenland's flag. 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 as she held Danish and Greenlandic flags. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”

Also read: Denmark warns of ‘shoot first’ policy as Trump renews Greenland takeover push

The rallies occurred hours after a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers, while visiting Copenhagen, sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support.

Just as they finished their trek from Nuuk to the US Consulate, the news broke of Trump’s new tariffs. “It just shows he has no remorse for any kind of human being now,” said a stunned protester.

(With agency inputs)