Trump-Greenland newest: EU to carry emergency assembly immediately after ‘unacceptable’ US tariff threats
EU diplomats are set to hold an emergency meeting after Donald Trump announced tariffs against European countries over their opposition to US control of Greenland.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said 10 per cent tariffs would come into effect on February 1 on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland.
Those tariffs would increase to 25 per cent on June 1 and would continue until a deal is reached for the US to purchase Greenland, Trump said. The meeting between EU officials will take place at on Sunday around 5pm local time (4pm GMT, 11am ET).
“World Peace is at stake! China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing Denmark can do about it,” Trump said. He went on to claim Greenland is only protected by two dogsleds.
It has prompted fury in Europe. “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral European Commission president,” Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council president Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer branded the tariffs “completely wrong”, while French president Emmanuel Macron said the move was “unacceptable”, adding: “No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland.”
UK would never support US purchase of Greenland, minister says
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
The UK would never support the US attempt to purchase, a Cabinet minister has confirmed, as tensions grow over the issue.
It comes after Donald Trump ramped up pressure with a pledge to apply tariffs to the UK until a deal is reached for the US to acquire Greenland.
Asked on Sky News whether she can say that the UK will never accept such a proposal, Lisa Nandy said: “Yes, of course. I mean, the Prime Minister was very clear last night that we believe that this decision on tariffs is completely wrong.”
The future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the people of the Kingdom of Denmark to determine and for them alone. We’ve been consistent about that.
“That is a view that we’ve expressed to our friends and allies in the American administration”
‘We need to work together, not to divide ourselves’, minister says
The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
“We need to work together, not divide ourselves”, Lisa Nandy has said in the wake of Donald Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on Britain amid growing threats to annex Greenland.
The culture secretary told Sky News that the government believes the tariffs “are the wrong approach”, adding: “We believe that, at this moment, with the serious challenges, especially in the Arctic region, affecting not just us, but the United States, Canada and most of Europe, that we need to be working together in order to resolve them.”
Watch: Greenland residents stage ‘Stop Trump’ protest as president continues threats
Denmark’s foreign minister to visit London
Denmark’s foreign minister is set to make a visit to London tomorrow to discuss the security situation in the Arctic.
The foreign ministry in Copenhagen says Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s visit comes at a time of “geopolitical competition” that places new demands on NATO countries’ coordination.
Rasmussen will also visit Sweden and Norway next week.
‘China and Russia must be having a field day,’ EU’s foreign policy chief says
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, was quick to denounce Trump’s Tariff announcement.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among Allies,” she wrote in a post on X.
“If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity.
“We also cannot let our dispute distract us from the our core task of helping to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
EU ambassadors to hold emergency talks after Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 member states are meeting today for an emergency session after US president Donald Trump threatened a wave of escalating tariffs on European allies unless the United States is allowed to buy Greenland.
Cyprus, which currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, said late on Saturday that it had convened the meeting, which EU diplomats said was due to begin at 5pm.
Trump is facing opposition to his tariff announcement from Democrats
President Donald Trump is facing opposition to his tariff announcement from Democrats, as well as from Europe.
Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee said he will be “ offering a resolution to terminate these illegal and absurd tariffs immediately”.
He added that Trump is “manufacturing a foreign crisis” and said that it is “incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies,” Sky News reported.
Former Nato chief accuses Trump of ‘gangster’ threat over Greenland
The former chief of Nato has accused Donald Trump of making Russian “gangster”-style threats against Greenland as protests against US intervention got underway in Denmark.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former head of Nato and former Danish prime minister, warned that the US president was using his threat over Greenland as “a weapon of mass distraction from the real threats” such as Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Rasmussen said in relation to Trump’s threats over Greenland: “For me, it’s been a painful process. Since childhood, I have considered the United States as the natural leader of the free world. I’ve even spoken about the US as the world’s policeman”.
Rasmussen’s remarks are particularly damning for the US administration, as he once sent Danish troops to fight with the US in Afghanistan.
“Now we see the United States use a language that’s pretty close to the gangsters that they should control in Moscow, Beijing, etc,” he added.
Republicans are turning up the rhetoric against Trump’s plan to take Greenland
At least half a dozen GOP lawmakers have criticized the proposal, calling it unprecedented, damaging to U.S. alliances, and a move that could trigger impeachment proceedings.
“There’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said this week, according to Politico. Senator Mitch McConnell, Thune’s predecessor, said that military action against the territory would be “an unprecedented act of strategic self-harm,” which would risk “incinerating” NATO alliances.
In recent weeks, Trump has reiterated his strong interest in acquiring Greenland, potentially through military force, for U.S. national security purposes. He has claimed the Arctic island, home to about 57,000 people, faces threats from Russia and China.
Minority leader Schumer says Democrats will introduce legislation to block these tariffs
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday that Democrats would move to block president Donald Trump’s proposed 10 per cent tariffs on European countries, imposed over his demand that the US acquire Greenland.
“Donald Trump’s foolhardy tariffs have already driven up prices and damaged our economy and now he is only making things worse,” Schumer said in a statement. “It is incredible that he wants to double down on the stupidity by imposing tariffs on our closest allies for his quixotic quest to takeover Greenland.”
“Senate Democrats will introduce legislation to block these tariffs before they do further damage to the American economy and our allies in Europe,” he said.
Republican senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also criticised the tariffs, with Tillis saying they were “bad for America, bad for American businesses, and bad for America’s allies”.
“We are already seeing the consequences of these measures in real time: our NATO allies are being forced to divert attention and resources to Greenland, a dynamic that plays directly into Putin’s hands by threatening the stability of the strongest coalition of democracies the world has ever seen,” Murkowski wrote on X.
Source: independent.co.uk
