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

Donald Trump has vowed to “100%” follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on European countries that oppose his claim to control Greenland.

European allies rally over Greenland’s sovereignty. Denmark’s foreign minister emphasized that the US president cannot threaten his way of owning 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 only” to decide.

On Monday, Trump refused to rule out the use of force and insisted he would continue with threatened tariffs on goods coming to the US from the UK and seven other NATO-allied countries.

Asked by NBC News if he would use force to seize Greenland, Trump replied: “No comment”.

The US president said he would pay Britain a 10% tariff “on any and all goods” sent to the US from 1 February, increasing to 25% from 1 June, until an agreement is reached for Washington to buy Greenland from Denmark.

Trump said the same would apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland – all of them members of the Nato defense alliance founded in 1949.

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

Trump added: “Europe needs to focus on the war with Russia and Ukraine because, frankly, you see what they got… That’s what Europe needs to focus on – not Greenland.”

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

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

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

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

NATO secretary general Mark Rutte said the alliance would continue to work with Denmark and Greenland on Arctic security.

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

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc “has no interest in picking a fight, but we will stay on our ground”.

“But trade threats are not the way to do it,” Kallas added. “Sovereignty is not for trade.”

It comes as text exchanges between Trump and Norway’s prime minister were released – showing that on Sunday the The US president blamed Norway for the fact that he did not get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his answer – seen by the BBC – Jonas Gahr Støre explained that an independent committee, not the Norwegian government, awarded the prize that in October went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

“Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark in this matter,” Støre added.

Trump also addressed the text message exchange in an interview on Monday and said: “Norway totally controls it (the Nobel Prize) despite what they say.

“They want to say they had nothing to do with it, but they had everything to do with it.”