Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed

Donald Trump said he will hit European countries with new 10 percent tariffs from next month until they agree to support his ambition to seize Greenland.

The US President said that the new fees will apply to France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, and will rise to 25 percent in June.

“We have supported Denmark, all EU countries, and others, for many years by not imposing tariffs on them, or any other form of compensation,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Saturday.

“Now, centuries later, it is time for Denmark to return the favor – world peace is at stake!”

The new tariffs threaten a sharp escalation of global tensions at a time of geopolitical instability, and come despite a series of recent trade agreements concluded between Washington and foreign capitals.

Trump has strengthened his rhetoric about his desire to control Danish territory in recent weeks and has not ruled out the use of military force to control it, which has raised concerns among European allies.

Trump said on Saturday that the new tariffs would be payable “until an agreement is reached to fully and completely purchase Greenland.”

“Many presidents have tried, and with good reason, but Denmark has always refused,” Trump wrote.

“Now, because of the Golden Dome and modern weapons systems, both offensive and defensive, the need to acquire it has become particularly important,” he added, referring to his plan to build a missile defense system for the United States that would mimic the Israeli Iron Dome.

An EU official said European ambassadors were expected to meet on Sunday to discuss a response.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Tariffs will undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous decline.”

European NATO members, including Denmark, agreed this week to send troops to bolster security in Greenland.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in his statements to Channel X: “No intimidation or threat will affect us – neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we face such situations.”

He added: “Threats of customs duties are unacceptable and have no place in this context.”

Trump’s new trade criticism came as thousands of Danes and Greenlanders gathered in more than 10 locations to protest US threats to seize control of the Arctic island.

Protesters in Denmark and Greenland raised the Greenlandic flag and expressed their anger at Trump’s plans. “Our future is decided by us,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens Fredrik Nielsen told the protest in Nuuk.

Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, the largest European political group, said Brussels should refuse to formally approve the trade deal it negotiated with Washington last year, “given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland.”

He added that the customs duties that the European Union agreed to reduce to zero “should be suspended.”

The European parliament is scheduled to vote on the agreement within the next two months. Members of the European Parliament had already postponed the vote, which would allow the European Union to implement the agreement, after Trump’s previous threats against Greenland.

Weber’s comments bring the EPP into line with the majority of centre-left MEPs.

Officials in Greenland, Norway and Denmark criticized Trump’s efforts to pressure allies.

Akalo Jeremiassen, head of the Greenlandic Atasot party, part of the government coalition, told TV2 it was “childish” and “completely reckless.” He added: “It’s like a child at the table who is not allowed to eat sweets.”

“We do not believe that the issue of tariffs belongs in this context,” said Espen Barth Ede, Norwegian Foreign Minister.

“Every insult, threat, tariff and lie we receive reinforces our resolve,” said Rasmus Jarlov, a former Danish minister and current MP. “We will never hand over Greenland.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Applying tariffs to allies to achieve the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong. We will, of course, seek to achieve this directly with the US administration.”

Analysts said Trump’s threat showed that even concluding a trade deal with the United States, as Starmer did, was no protection from the president’s wrath.

“Starmer appears incredibly vulnerable to Trump’s new tariff threat, as he has been consistently touting the UK’s ‘superior’ trade deal as one of the justifications for his government’s softer approach to this administration,” said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at Eurasia Group.

“It will make him look particularly foolish in the eyes of many European member states who view Trump as an unreliable partner.”

It was not clear what legal authority Trump would resort to to hit allies with tariffs, or whether the new tariffs would apply to goods that were exempt from US tariffs under recent trade agreements.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

The US Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming weeks on the legality of the US President’s use of emergency powers to quickly impose tariffs on trading partners. A ruling against the US government could represent a setback for Trump’s key economic policy and force Washington to roll back many of its existing definitions.

Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London and Alice Hancock in Brussels