Dutch minister calls Trump’s Greenland tariff threat ‘blackmail’<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
The Netherlands\u2019 foreign minister on Sunday said that US president Donald Trump\u2019s threat to impose new tariffs on European allies until they agree to sell Greenland to the United States is \u201cblackmail\u201c.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s blackmail what he\u2019s doing … and it\u2019s not necessary. It doesn\u2019t help the alliance [Nato] and it also doesn\u2019t help Greenland<\/a>,\u201d David van Weel said in an interview on Dutch television.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Van Weel said the Greenland mission was intended to show the US Europe\u2019s willingness to help defend Greenland and he was opposed to Trump making a connection with diplomacy over the island and trade.<\/p>\n Ambassadors from the European Union\u2019s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to Trump\u2019s tariff threat (see post 8.23<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n