US President Donald Trump’s erratic plans to buy Greenland has triggered calls for the home nations to boycott the men’s football World Cup in the US this summer
Donald Trump’s erratic plans to buy Greenland has triggered calls for the home nations to boycott the men’s football World Cup in the US this summer.
MPs piled pressure on Keir Starmer to “fight fire with fire” and embarrass the US President after he threatened the UK with tariffs.
Mr Trump on Saturday warned he will slap 10% tariffs on countries including the UK from February for opposing his desired takeover of Greenland. In an incendiary move, he also threatened to hike the levies on NATO allies to 25% on June 1 if a deal to buy the territory is not reached in time.
Last night, Conservative former minister Simon Hoare and Liberal Democrat MP Luke Taylor suggested both England and Scotland, along with any other home nations who qualify through the playoffs, should pull out of the tournament in protest at Mr Trump. Mr Hoare also suggested the King could cancel his planned state visit to the United States.
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Pressure has further mounted this morning after Mr Trump issued an extraordinary post branding Britain’s Chagos deal an “act of GREAT STUPIDITY”. He branded Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Island an “act of total weakness” that was being watched by China and Russia.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday evening, Mr Hoare said: “The Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister, Nato, the Danes and others have been commended for responding to this through the usual channels and through the usual means.
“Now, that would be fine if we had an occupant of the White House who understood all of that and who respected all of that, but he laughs now, not just behind his hand, but blatantly in our faces as a result of that.
“So, whilst all of that continues, we need to try and work out what makes this man tick. He is thin-skinned, he has an ego and he doesn’t like to be embarrassed.
“Should the state visit go ahead this year? Should football teams play in American stadia for the World Cup? These are things which would embarrass the president at home. We now need to fight fire with fire.”
The World Cup will start on June 11. Scotland will play their first World Cup game in nearly 30 years three days later. Meanwhile Thomas Tuchel’s England will kick off against Croatia on June 17. Scotland will play their games in Massachusetts and Florida, while England’s group stage fixtures will take place in Texas, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
Mr Taylor said: “Diplomacy relies on rational actors, yet even in the last fortnight we have seen Donald Trump declare that he is not bound by international law, only his own morality. He has deployed paramilitary forces against his own people, and he speaks of cancelling elections. How apt.
“We also have seen the unilateral kidnapping of the president of an independent country. We are not dealing with a rational man. He responds only to shiny baubles, as we’ve seen with the incredible saga of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“So I want to agree with (Mr Hoare) and ask the Government if they will consider removing the King’s visit to the United States, and also a boycott of the World Cup to show Donald Trump that the only thing he responds to is his own pride.”
Responding to Mr Hoare, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The approach that our Prime Minister has taken, the approach that this Government has taken, has already led to very big changes in the United States’ initial proposals on tariffs that were, as a result, substantially reduced and changed as a result of that engagement.
“We’ve also seen, as a result of the engagement, big changes in the US approach to Ukraine, where considerable work has been done now to secure agreements around security guarantees that have been immensely important, and that is as a result of continued engagement, not just by the Prime Minister, but others more widely.”
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the Commons’ foreign affairs committee, was this morning asked if Britain should cancel the King’s visit to the US in April or withdraw England and Scotland from the World Cup in response to Mr Trump’s Chagos outburst. She told BBC Radio 4: “I would be in favour of keeping calm and and trying to sit this out a bit, see what happens next. We’re getting this bevy of messages and so on at the moment.
“I think we have to remain firm and strong and calm and quite clear what is acceptable and what is not as acceptable, and stick with allies who do the same thing. I think we have to hold our ground at the moment.”