As members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) stare down the barrel of a possible Europe vs USA tariff war, US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his aggressive ‘threat based tactics’ to coerce his European counterparts into considering the proposed Greenland deal.
In a written message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere that was accessed by Reuters, Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland with Norway’s ‘failure’ to award him a Nobel for ‘stopping 8 wars.’
The US president further added that after that incident he no longer thought “purely of peace” and can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.
“Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” he wrote in the letter.
Trump’s remarks captivated the attention of people on the global forum as the row between NATO members over the Arctic island on Monday threatened to reignite a massive trade war between the western powers.
In his message, Trump also repeated his accusation that Denmark cannot protect Greenland from Russia or China. “… and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?” he wrote, adding that “the World is not secure unless we (The United States of America) have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
Tracing the origin of the greenland dispute
Trump’s renewed push follows his earlier public suggestion that the US should “buy” Greenland — an idea that first surfaced during his previous term and was widely dismissed by European leaders.
The US’ proposal of ‘buying Greenland’ triggered a massive row between the United States and the entire European lobby on Saturday when Donald Trump threatened to enforce additional tariffs on the entire European bloc to coerce the countries and bloc representatives into entering the negotiating table on the Greenland matter.
In a post on his social media platform Truthsocial, Trump threatened the European bloc with 10% the additional tariffs are set to be effective from 1 February 2026. As per the post, these tariffs can later be also escalated to 25% from June 1 if the countries refuse to negotiate the sale of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
How did Europe respond ?
Trump’s threats prompted large protests in the state of Denmark with thousands of citizens taking to the streets. Denmark swiftly rejected Trump’s claims, reiterating that Greenland is not for sale and that its security is anchored within NATO.
Just yesterday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer dubbed the additional tariffs threatened by the US President as “completely wrong”. French President Emmanuel Macron described Trump’s threat as “unacceptable”. “We will not be swayed by any intimidation,” said Macron. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed that European allies won’t be “blackmailed”.
EU leaders will discuss options at an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($108 billion) of U.S. imports that could automatically kick in on February 6 after a six-month suspension.
Another option is the “Anti-Coercion Instrument” (ACI), which has theoretically never been used by the European powers in their history.
The ACI is expected to seriously limit US companies’ access to public tenders, investments or banking activity and trading services which could also jeopardize US’s export of digital services to the European nations.
However, given the public popularity of the first option, many experts interviewed by Reuters suggest that the European bloc is much likely to go with the first option of packaged tariffs.
The European Union’s engagement with the United States on Greenland is continuing “at all levels” following U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on a list of EU countries, EU Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Monday.
Trump’s threat has rattled European industry and compounded pressure on global markets amid fears of a return to the volatility of last year’s trade war, which only eased when the sides reached tariff deals in the middle of the year.
Can Trump’s tariffs actually be imposed: Legal scrutiny underway
Adding to the global tariff uncertainty and frenzy, the US Supreme Court is presently examining Trump’s authority to issue these tariffs. Trump had invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act mentioned in the US constitution to issue tariff threats to the countries across the globe. Trump’s heavy use of the act is now under legal scrutiny.
If the court rules against him, Trump may not be able to impose the recently announced levies. raising questions about retaliation and the compounding pressure on global trade.
In a letter addressed to the Norwegian Prime Minister, Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Russia and UK’’s response
As per a Reuters report, Russian authorities have so far declined to comment on whether the U.S. designs on Greenland were good or bad but said it was hard to disagree with experts that Trump would “go down in… world history” if he did take control of the island.
Following these developments over the weekend, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called for calm discussion between the allies on Greenland, adding that he did not believe Trump was considering military action to seize the island.
“A tariff war is in nobody’s interests,” he said, suggesting that Britain would not retaliate against any new U.S. tariffs.