Dutch minister calls Trump’s Greenland tariff threat ‘blackmail’
The Netherlands’ foreign minister on Sunday said that US president Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on European allies until they agree to sell Greenland to the United States is “blackmail“.
“It’s blackmail what he’s doing … and it’s not necessary. It doesn’t help the alliance [Nato] and it also doesn’t help Greenland,” David van Weel said in an interview on Dutch television.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on 1 February on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain _ countries that have agreed to contribute personnel to a Nato exercise on Greenland.
Van Weel said the Greenland mission was intended to show the US Europe’s willingness to help defend Greenland and he was opposed to Trump making a connection with diplomacy over the island and trade.
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to Trump’s tariff threat (see post 8.23).
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The United States will also suffer if president Donald Trump implements threats to impose tariffs on European countries opposing his plans to acquire Greenland, a French minister said on Sunday.
“In this escalation of tariffs, he has a lot to lose as well, as do his own farmers and industrialists,” French agriculture minister Annie Genevard told broadcasters Europe 1 and CNews.
An extraordinary meeting of EU ambassadors has been called in Brussels for Sunday afternoon.
“The European Union has potential strike force” from a commercial standpoint, Genevard said.
“This is a response that must be handled with caution, because this escalation could be deadly – but it could also be deadly for the United States.”
Any US takeover of Greenland would be “unacceptable”, the minister added. “It is clear that the Europeans will not let the United States do as it pleases.”
Danish foreign minister to visit Nato allies over Greenland
Denmark’s foreign minister is to visit fellow Nato members Norway, the UK and Sweden to discuss the alliance’s Arctic security strategy, his ministry announced Sunday.
Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen will visit Oslo on Sunday, travel to London on Monday and then to Stockholm on Thursday.
“In an unstable and unpredictable world, Denmark needs close friends and allies,” Rasmussen stated in a press release.
“Our countries share the view that we all agree on the need to strengthen Nato’s role in the Arctic, and I look forward to discussing how to achieve this,” he said.
Lisa O’Carroll
Emmanuel Macron hit back at Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on any country opposing his Greenland takeover, warning that “no amount of intimidation” will persuade European nations to change their course on Greenland.
Macron’s message was echoed by the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, who warned the EU would not be “blackmailed” by Trump, and the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, who said “threats have no place among allies”.
In a joint statement, EU leaders said “tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral”. EU ambassadors are expected to meet for an emergency session on Sunday.
Trump’s threats appear to have fired up the EU, which up to now has been loathe to go down a confrontational path, with MEPs threatening to pause the ratification of the US trade deal next week.
Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s party, the largest voting bloc in the institute, said they would have to pause the legal rubber stamping process.
Dutch minister calls Trump’s Greenland tariff threat ‘blackmail’
The Netherlands’ foreign minister on Sunday said that US president Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on European allies until they agree to sell Greenland to the United States is “blackmail“.
“It’s blackmail what he’s doing … and it’s not necessary. It doesn’t help the alliance [Nato] and it also doesn’t help Greenland,” David van Weel said in an interview on Dutch television.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on 1 February on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain _ countries that have agreed to contribute personnel to a Nato exercise on Greenland.
Van Weel said the Greenland mission was intended to show the US Europe’s willingness to help defend Greenland and he was opposed to Trump making a connection with diplomacy over the island and trade.
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to Trump’s tariff threat (see post 8.23).
German engineering association calls for ‘anti-coercion’ response to Greenland tariffs
Germany’s engineering association has called on the European Commission to consider using its ‘Anti-Coercion Instrument’ against US president Donald Trump’s plan to impose additional tariffs on European countries in the Greenland dispute.
The instrument allows the bloc to retaliate against third countries that put economic pressure on EU members to change their policies.
“If the EU gives in here, it will only encourage the US president to make the next ludicrous demand and threaten further tariffs,” VDMA President Bertram Kawlath said in a statement on Sunday.
The UK needs to have an “adult debate” with the US after Donald Trump threatened to ramp up tariffs until a deal is reached for the US to acquire Greenland, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said.
She said Keir Starmer will talk to Trump at the “earliest opportunity” but could not say if that would be at Davos in the coming week.
She told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Often, with this particular US administration, the president will express a very strong view. He will then encourage a dialogue.
“He welcomes difference of opinion, and we will never shy away from standing up for what we believe is right, or asserting British interests. And what often happens is a negotiation.”
She rejected that Trump would “chicken out”.
“I don’t think he’ll chicken out. I think this is actually a really serious issue, and I think it deserves a far more adult debate than us threatening the United States and the United States threatening us.”
She said “the one thing that we won’t do is compromise on our position” that Greenland’s future is a matter for the people of Denmark and Greenland.
“That is non-negotiable. That is the starting point for the conversation.
Some more from the UK’s culture secretary Lisa Nandy on Greenland this morning.
Speaking to Sky News, she said:
As the prime minister has very clearly said we disagree with this decision.
We’re going to go and have that conversation with our American counterparts, and while we’re having that conversation with them, we’re also going to be talking about the security of the United Kingdom and the United States and how our interests are better served by working together.
Our position on Greenland is non-negotiable, that we’ve made that very clear, and we’ll continue to make that clear.
President Trump’s position on Greenland is different, notwithstanding that it is in our collective interest to work together and not to start a war of words.
British position on Greenland ‘non-negotiable’, says culture secretary
The UK’s position on Greenland is “non-negotiable”, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said 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.
She echoed a statement from Keir Starmer last night, telling Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “We believe that this decision on tariffs is completely wrong.”
She would not be drawn into how the government could retaliate when asked about the possibility of the UK applying its own tariffs or delaying the King’s state visit to the US.
Spanish PM says US invasion of Greenland ‘would make Putin happiest man on earth’
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said a US invasion of Greenland “would make Putin the happiest man on earth” in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.
Sanchez said any military action by the US against Denmark’s vast Arctic island would damage Nato and legitimise the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
“If we focus on Greenland, I have to say that a US invasion of that territory would make Vladimir Putin the happiest man in the world. Why? Because it would legitimise his attempted invasion of Ukraine,” he said in an interview in La Vanguardia newspaper.
“If the United States were to use force, it would be the death knell for Nato. Putin would be doubly happy.”
EU calls emergency meeting after Trump vows tariffs linked to Greenland
Good morning and welcome to the Europe live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines and reaction throughout the day.
We start with the news that ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting after US president Donald Trump vowed a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland.
Cyprus, which holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, said late on Saturday that it had called the meeting for Sunday. EU diplomats said it was set to start at 5pm (4pm GMT).
In a lengthy post on Saturday on Truth Social, Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland beginning 1 February, “on any and all goods sent to the United States of America”.
He said the tariff will increase to 25% on 1 June.
“This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said.
The president’s longstanding interest in acquiring Greenland “one way or the other” has become a fixation since the US raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro earlier in January. While he has claimed the Arctic territory’s current status poses a national security threat to the US, this has been disputed by US allies, including Denmark.
In the Saturday morning post, Trump said forces from the eight European nations “have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown”. It was an apparent reference to Nato allies deploying troops in Greenland on Thursday in response to Trump’s threats to forcefully take the Arctic island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“The President’s statement comes as a surprise,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark’s foreign minister, responded on social media. “Earlier this week, we had a constructive meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio. The purpose of the increased military presence in Greenland, to which the President refers, is to enhance security in the Arctic.”
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