US President Donald Trump mounted another tariff threat, this time over Greenland. In a fresh threat issued during a White House meeting this week, he took aim at countries that may not side with his plans to take over Greenland despite the island itself repeatedly speaking out against any possibility of a sale.
While at an event at the White House about rural health care, he recalled how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland too,” the US leader said on Friday (US time). “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that.”
Trump says anything less than US owning Greenland is ‘unacceptable’
For years, Trump has expressed his desire that the United States should control Greenland, the world’s largest island. He first floated the idea of a Greenland takeover during his first presidency in 2019. Since then, the MAGA leader has ramped up these claims even more in the new year following America’s intervention in Venezuela.
Just earlier this week, Trump asserted that the US falling short of acquiring the semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark would simply be “unacceptable.” He had previously asserted that the US needs to “own” Greenland no matter what it takes to prevent Russia and China from doing so.
Without offering any evidence, he backed his claims of “national security” by suggesting that the Arctic island was “covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
Pushing that the US will do it “the easy way” or the “hard way,” Trump told reporters, “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases. And we’ll have to defend Greenland.”
His Friday statement marks the first time he has directly mentioned tariffs to force his way out of the matter.
Hindrances in Trump’s path to acquiring Greenland
Little is known at this time about which nations are exactly on his tariff radar, as he did not outrightly name any of them. But, we already know that both Denmark and Greenland are among the top countries countering his plans.
At the same time, many in the US itself have opposed plans of a Greenland acquisition. While Trump delivered his new tariff threat at the White House, a bipartisan congressional delegation turned to Greenland during the conflicting hour.
A group of 11 members, including Republicans, met prominent leaders like Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said Friday: “The signals are clear. I think you will find that support in Congress to acquire Greenland in any way is not there.”
With Trump possibly hinting at the acquisition of Greenland by the use of force, Denmark has already warned that any such action would signal the end of the NATO alliance.
Moreover, both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly emphasised that the island is not for sale. Greenland’s leaders had previously even penned a joint statement, announcing “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders. The future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”