Trump says he will ‘100%’ carry out Greenland tariffs threat, as EU vows to protect its interests

Donald Trump has vowed to “100%” follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on European countries who oppose his demand to take control of Greenland.

European allies have rallied around Greenland’s sovereignty. Denmark’s foreign minister emphasised the US president cannot threaten his way to ownership of the semi-autonomous Danish territory.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper reiterated the UK’s position that the future of Greenland is for “Greenlanders and for the Danes alone” to decide.

On Monday, Trump declined to rule out the use of force and insisted he would press ahead with the threatened tariffs on goods arriving in the US from the UK and seven other Nato-allied countries.

In a post to Truth Social in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the US president said he had a “very good telephone call” with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, and agreed to a meeting “of various parties” in Switzerland this week.

He went on: “Greenland is imperative for National and World Security. There can be no going back — On that, everyone agrees!”

Trump has said he will charge a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent from the UK to the US from 1 February, increasing to 25% from 1 June, until a deal is reached for Washington to purchase Greenland from Denmark.

He said the same would apply to goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of whom are members of the defence alliance Nato which was founded in 1949.

Asked if he would follow through on the tariff threat, Trump told NBC News: “I will, 100%.”

When the outlet asked whether he would use force to seize the territory, the president replied “no comment”.

Trump added: “Europe ought to focus on the war with Russia and Ukraine because, frankly, you see what that’s gotten them… That’s what Europe should focus on – not Greenland.”

Denmark has warned that US military action in Greenland would spell the end of Nato. In recent days, Greenland has received support from European members of the alliance – some even sent a handful of troops to Greenland last week in a move seen as symbolic.

However, Trump followed that deployment with an announcement to impose tariffs on the eight Nato allies.

Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that Europe had to show President Trump tariff threats were “not the way forward”.

“We have red lines that can’t be crossed,” he told Sky News. “You can’t threaten your way to ownership of Greenland. I have no intention of escalating this situation.”

Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the tariffs did not benefit anyone, and he hoped to meet with the US president during his trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum.

He said: “We do not want this escalation. We do not want a trade dispute with the United States of America.”

He also added that the Trump administration would not have been surprised by Nato’s so-called reconnaissance mission over the weekend, as it had been announced and agreed upon beforehand.

“It was never a military action,” the German chancellor said.

The European Union is to hold an emergency summit in Brussels for its leaders on Thursday where they will discuss how to respond to Trump’s latest threat to take over Greenland.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc has “no interest to pick a fight, but we will hold our ground”.

“But trades threats are not the way to go about this,” Kallas added. “Sovereignty is not for trade.”