Donald Trump said he will hit European countries with new 10 percent tariffs starting next month until they agree to support his ambition to acquire Greenland.
The US president said the new tariffs would apply to France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, rising to 25 percent in June.
“We have subsidized Denmark and all European Union countries and others for years by not charging them tariffs or other forms of compensation,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
“Now, after centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back – world peace is at stake!”
The new tariffs threaten a sharp escalation in global tensions at a time of geopolitical instability, and come despite a recent series of trade deals between Washington and foreign capitals.
Trump has stepped up his rhetoric in recent weeks about wanting Danish territory and has not ruled out using military force to seize it, sending European allies into turmoil.
On Saturday morning, Trump said the new tariff would be affordable “until such time as a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of 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 is particularly important,” he added, referring to his plan to build a missile defense system for the US that would mimic Israel’s Iron Dome.
European NATO members, including Denmark, agreed this week to send troops to bolster Greenland’s security.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Friday he had warned his US counterpart Scott Bessent that any move to take Greenland would amount to a “crossing of the line”, endangering Europe’s economic relationship with Washington.
Trump’s new trade side came as thousands of Danes and Greenlanders gathered for more than a dozen protests against US threats to take control of the Arctic island.
Protesters in Denmark and Greenland held up the Greenland flag and expressed their anger at Trump’s plans. “Our future is determined by us,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Prime Minister of Greenland, said during the protest in Nuuk.
Those protests came after Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former head of NATO and former Danish prime minister, told the FT that Trump was speaking like “gangsters” and using Greenland as a “weapon for mass distraction” from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Officials in Greenland, Norway and Denmark criticized Trump’s attempts to pressure allies through trade measures.
Aqqalu Jerimiassen, head of the Greenland party Atassut, which is part of the governing coalition, told TV2 it was “childish” and “completely foolish”. He added: “It’s like a child at the dinner table who can’t have sweets.”
“We do not believe that the issue of tariffs belongs in this context,” said Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign minister.
Rasmus Jarlov, a former Danish minister and current member of parliament, said: “Every insult, threat, tariff and lie we receive strengthens our resolve. The answer from Denmark and Greenland is final: we will never hand over Greenland. We pray that our true allies will stand by us, because we will need it.”
It was not clear what legal authority Trump would invoke to hit allies with tariffs, and whether the new duties would apply to goods exempt from U.S. tariffs under recent trade deals.
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 using emergency powers to quickly impose tariffs on trading partners. A ruling against the US government could mark a setback for Trump’s key economic policies and force Washington to roll back many of its existing tariffs.
